Light of Liberty: Arc II
by LadyDae
Summary: After running away from Tatooine and being chased by the empire for three and a half years, Luke and Leia never thought Darth Vader would be their father and secretly they would be the crown Prince and Princess of the empire. That's a different adventure.
1. Familiarity

I was so stressed over having to write my essay that it's been hard to write my fic lately because I'll spend more time on my fic and forget to do an essay until the last minute. So I've been so focused on my essay, I couldn't write my fics. Luckily, this chapter was written and so I can get back to typing the story today since all I have to do is make a works cited list on my paper and say a long prayer… But now I have to go back and rewrite another chapter I had that I was trying to write in conjunction with my essay because as soon as I edited my essay and said done, an idea for this fic came. I curse school right now. I should just quit and become a freelance writer, but that won't go over well with my parents... Anyway this is the chapter you've all been waiting for. So read, enjoy, and review.

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**Chapter One**

**Familiarity  
**

Vader watched with curiosity as the girl, whose name he found out was Leia (a name he found to be familiar to him), paced in an eerily familiar way as she waited for news on her brother, worry etched into her expression. Finally, Vader grew annoyed with her habit and spoke.

"Sit down child. Pacing and worrying yourself to death will not help your brother."

"Well sitting calmly like nothing's wrong won't help either," Leia shot back to the sith lord. "Just because I agreed to this to help Luke doesn't mean I'm going to cooperate with you. You're still Darth Vader."

"Must you and your brother be so difficult?" Vader asked her. "Besides, you calming down would help more than you know. You both have a very strong bond and it could entice his presence if he senses that you are in a panicked state. That won't be good for his health because he'll struggle to come to your aid."

Leia stopped pacing and tossed the idea around in her head before realizing reluctantly that Vader was right. She looked at the couch in the beautiful personal waiting room the doctors had sent her and Vader in. She probably should sit down, but sitting down meant if Vader tried anything she was at a disadvantage because she had to get up before she did anything.

"I'll sit down if you sit down," she said crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head.

Darth Vader mimicked her actions. "You're in no position to be making ultimatums young lady. As soon as your brother is well I will take you both back to my commanding vessel as my prisoners."

Leia blinked. He did have a point. "Kriffing sith lord."

"And I don't imagine your parents would appreciate your use of such vulgar language young lady."

"They're dead," Leia snapped. "Besides, what are you my father or something? You sound like a dad. You got a secret son or daughter hidden around somewhere that the galaxy doesn't know about?"

Vader was wondering why he was so concerned himself. Any other child he wouldn't have cared what they said, but there was something about this young girl that brought out a side of him that he had long suppressed.

"Not that I know of princess," Vader said since the girl's haughtiness reminded him of Princess Winter of Alderaan.

Leia rolled her eyes. "Why does everyone call me that?"

"I don't know, but I'm doing so because you're acting like a spoiled ungrateful brat and I don't appreciate the behavior when I could have left your brother for dead on Dathomir. Now get the attitude in check and sit down." Leia started to reply but Vader cut her off. "And I will not sit down to satisfy your egotistical desire to feel like we're on even ground."

Leia stared at Vader in shock. There was no adult in the galaxy that could argue with her, but here Darth Vader was doing it and to her shock, she wasn't really offended by it. In fact, she respected it… And he hadn't tried to hit her.

Leia sat down not actually offended, but she had appearances to keep up appearances, so she crossed her arms feigning displeasures.

After a moment Vader's curiosity of the girl got the best of him and he turned his head to address her.

"Who else calls you princess?"

"I have no obligation to tell you," Leia snapped.

"Actually, considering today's events I think you at least owe it to me to answer my inquisitions," Vader pointed out.

Leia sighed. How was it that he kept cornering her?

"Luke does and he says it for the same reason you do. He says sometimes I act like a little spoiled bratty princess and when he calls me that, it means I'm getting on his nerve and acting like a spoiled brat. So usually it's not a compliment."

Vader was amused by the girl's disgruntled mood as she admitted this.

"How old are you and your brother?"

"Sixteen," she snapped curtly and looked down at her lap. "How about you?"

"That's hardly anything for you to be concerned about," Vader replied.

"I don't need to be. Your force presence says you're about thirty…thirty-nine?" she finished a little uncertain.

Vader was impressed. For children who had taught themselves, they were very talented in their use of the force. He began to mention this to her when the doctor came in. Leia jumped out of her seat.

"Is Luke going to be alright?" she asked. She was certain he wasn't dead. She would have felt that. But she didn't know if it would stay that way.

"We've managed to stabilize him, and we gave him a new hand. He had three broken ribs, eternal bleeding, a concussion, and a dislocated hip and I'm amazed you kept him alive long enough to get him here. Anyone else would have died. I expect a full recovery within a few weeks. He's very strong. But he may require a blood transfusion before we can give him a full bacta submergence. We have blood on hand, but his blood has an abnormality to it… Nothing dangerous, but we'd prefer to see if his sister is a match first," he said looking over the chart to make sure he covered everything.

"What abnormality."

"His midi-chlorian count is rather high. A little over seventeen thousand…"

"Is that a lot?" Leia asked.

"Yes even for a force sensitive," Darth Vader replied and then sensing Leia's panic added. "But it is nothing dangerous. My own count is exceptionally high."

"And you're in the life support suit," Leia pointed out.

Vader resisted the urge to choke the girl for her cold unfeeling observation.

"That was from an accident a long time ago," he said tightly.

"Oh," Leia said feeling bad. Darth Vader was… well, he was Darth Vader, but he had treated her ten times better than some of her masters ever had when she was a slave. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say something so thoughtless."

Vader didn't acknowledge her apology and dismissed the doctor telling him that they would follow shortly. He needed to talk to the child. Leia seemed nervous about something.

"We should go ahead and see if you and your brother's blood type are the same. More than likely it will be even if you are fraternal twins," Vader said.

Leia shifted uncomfortably and Vader felt her nervousness.

"Is there a problem?" he asked as the girl began to fiddle with her necklace.

"No… not really," she muttered quietly.

"Yes there is," Vader declared. "Are you afraid of needles or the sight of blood?"

Leia shook her head.

"Then tell me what is it child. You certainly had no problem voicing your thoughts before so it shouldn't be a problem now."

Leia sighed. "I doubt me and Luke will have the same blood type…" she admitted quietly.

"And what makes you say that?"

Leia crossed her arms and looked like she had been caught in a lie.

"He's not really my brother. That's why. It's a front. He's actually just my best friend," Leia said.

Vader simply stared at the girl and Leia started to wonder whether or not he had heard her. She started to repeat herself but Vader finally spoke.

"That's impossible," he said.

"No," Leia said. "It's not. We met when we were ten and have been together ever since."

"So you are involved in a romantic relationship then?" Vader asked carefully.

"No. Just friends… I may have thought about it once, but it felt wrong… I don't know. People say we are a little too close to be just friends though. Maybe in the future…" Leia said trailing off.

Vader was stunned. Such a bond as strong as Luke and Leia's was impossible no matter how close the people were unless they were siblings or bound by romantic feelings ordained by the force itself.

Leia, who was still fiddling with her mother's necklace, looked at Vader and rolled her eyes. She would never be able to tell why she was so comfortable around the sith lord but his staring was getting on her nerve.

"What the kriffing hell are you looking at?" she asked putting her hands on her hips, the necklace falling on her chest instead on back in her shirt where she usually concealed it.

Vader started to reprimand her for her language again but then noticed her necklace, a very familiar necklace.

Leia noticed him staring. "Now what?" she asked and then noticed his line of vision. "You better not be staring where I think you're staring or I'm going to terrorize you better than you ever could terrorize anyone. And I don't give a kriff who you are!"

But then Vader reached out and grabbed the pendant, inspecting it carefully.

"Where did you get this child?"

Leia carefully took it from his hand. How dare he?

"What's it matter to you?"

Vader didn't even care about her attitude. He just wanted to know where she got that pendant and how.

"Please Leia. Just answer this one question without being difficult," he requested.

Leia felt his pain and hope through the force and didn't have a clue why he was feeling that way. So even though she didn't think he needed to know, those feeling made her tell him.

"It was my mother's. It's the only thing I have left of her," Leia replied softly.

Vader stepped back and Leia looked at him in concern as he collapsed on the couch behind him. Leia looked at him in wonder. What could have cause such a reaction from him?

"What was your mother's name child?"

Leia shrugged. "I don't know. All I knew was that this was supposed to be buried with her since she was wearing it when she died, but it was given to me as a something to remember her by because I was only just born when she died," she explained and then sat next to him strangely comfortable with him. "Why do you ask? Have you seen one like this before? I always wondered where she got it."

"There's only one necklace in the galaxy like that. It was hand carved," Vader replied in a daze.

"Really?" Leia asked looking at the pendant again. "You can tell by looking at it?"

Vader shook his head slowly. "No child. I know because I made that necklace," he gave. It made sense now… Why she seemed so familiar to him… She looked just like her mother and her father's traits…

Vader felt her confusion as she tilted her head and asked, "Really? She brought it from you then?"

Vader shook his head. Of course the girl wouldn't know.

"No. I gave it to her," Vader replied and then looked at Leia. "I gave it to my wife when we were children and she wore it from the day I gave it to her to the day she died while she was still pregnant."

Leia started to give her condolences until his words sank in… He gave it to his wife who died while she was pregnant. She got it as a last token of her dead mother who died right after she was born. Oh stars…

"Wait a minute. Then that means you're… You're my father?" she asked stunned.

While she was in her dazed state and her shields were momentarily down, Vader explored her shining force signature, finding exactly what he was looking for, the part of the girl that matched his own force signature and then the part that belonged to her mother both fused to create another unique force signature that was the girl before him, the spitting image of his angel. He stared at Leia in amazement. So this was the child that he would speak to when her mother was asleep at night and who's presence he used to touch to familiarize himself with her. No wonder the child had been so familiar. And then it dawned on him where he had heard her name…

"_Hello Leia," Anakin said one day as he greeted his wife._

_Padmé smiled. "Leia?"_

"_That's her name," Anakin said. "Little princess."_

"Yes," he finally said. "I am your father Leia."

Leia felt Vader's presence brush against her own, and she jumped startled as she unwittingly put her shield back up. However, it hadn't been an unwelcome touch. She remembered it from a long time ago, albeit it was now darker that before but still the same.

And a bunch of questions rushed to her head as well as an explosion of emotions, so many she couldn't figure out which one to settle on. After so many years of not knowing where she came from or who she was, one of the people she had wondered about had been alive all this time and chasing her for a little over three years…

"Leia," Vader said getting a hold of himself again as he felt an abrupt change in her well being.

Leia slowly stood up holding her stomach, suddenly feeling sick before falling out. Vader, have sensed her sudden shift to unconsciousness caught her before she fell.

"Leia," he said. "Leia."

Vader muttered some choice words in huttese as he lifted his daughter in his arms, taking note that she was extremely light and could use a little more weight on her, before carefully walking out the lobby and finding a random empty room to place her in. A nurse having seen him go in came in and said, "Sir-." she cut herself off and gasped when she saw the girl.

"What happened?"

Vader stopped the nurse from coming closer and replied, "She is fine. She's just fainted from shock. But she may be traumatized when she awakes. I'd appreciate it if you found a doctor to evaluate her mental state when she awakes."

The nurse rushed out the room and Vader watched Leia with curiosity in her unconscious state. Her hair was the same shade as her mothers, and she seemed to favor the same braided hair styles that her mother had. He ran a hand over her face and hair in fascination. She was perfect, just like he always knew she was going to be, the perfect product of her parents love. Vader hadn't felt such emotions in sixteen years. He stepped back as she began to stir and then laid a hand on her shoulder when she tried to sit up.

"What happened?" she muttered moving his hand off her shoulder as she sat up anyway.

"Are you feeling alright now?" he asked.

"Yeah but…" Leia then remembered what had just happened and looked at Vader in disbelief. "Oh stang I wasn't dreaming."

Vader smiled under his mask. Padmé really would be horrified if she heard her daughter's coarse language.

Leia finally got over her shock and looked at Vader curiously. She had heard a lot of things about Vader, but she usually didn't judge a person by what people said. She really didn't know what to say, but this at least proved that under the suit, Vader was human. So she said the first thing that came to her mind to say to him.

"You know," she said crossing her arms. "A lot of people say you're a real evil bastard and if I didn't know any better, I'd say they were right. You certainly haven't tried to improve your image in the galaxy."

Vader kept silent. She wasn't finished yet.

"But I've met some real evil bastards in my lifetime and you're nothing like them, so I guess being your daughter isn't so bad. You alright in my book," Leia said with a smirk. No wonder she was so comfortable around Vader.

Vader made a mental note to ask her what she meant by having met some real evil bastards at a later date, but right now there were more pressing question, particularly who the Luke was to her.

"Who is this Luke? What is the extent of your relationship with him?' he asked suddenly more concerned that his daughter had been flying around the galaxy for the last three years with a teenage boy. Teenage boys had hormones and suddenly he was even more inclined to believe that there was something more to her relationship with him than she was letting on.

"I told you. He's just my friend. Nothing more," Leia replied. "Can I go see him now?"

"Not until you are truthful about the depth of your relationship with him. There is no way you two can be as bonded and connected as you are and not be in some kind of romantic relationship," Vader said beginning to pace back and forth.

"But we're not… I mean, I've thought about it but I swear."

Vader could feel through the force that she was telling the truth, but that didn't explain her apparent bond with him through the force.

"You have hardly any right to say anything even if you really are my father," Leia said haughtily with her arms crossed. "I had no clue you existed until ten minutes ago. I always thought you were dead."

Vader then realized he knew so little about his daughter besides the fact that she had been on the run for the last three years. Why was she on the run to begin with? Who had taken care of her all that time before that? Where did she meet this boy Luke? He began to ask her all of those questions when she suddenly looked up and then jumped off the bed sprinting out the door and down the hall. Vader followed briskly behind her wondering if Leia knew she was using a force induced run. Unsurprisingly, Leia had found Luke's room and the boy was now awake looking around in alarm.

"Leia," he muttered. "Where are we? What's going on? I-." he stopped and looked down at his right hand, the one that hadn't been there earlier.

"It's prosthetic," Leia replied. "I asked the doctors to fit you with the best hand they had when we brought you here."

"We?" Luke whispered and tried to turn his head to look towards the door. He sensed someone there, but his force senses were fogged up with whatever sedatives and pain killers he had been given.

"I had some help," Leia replied, running her hand through his hair.

Luke couldn't sense the presence at the door clearly but Leia felt different, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't feel as lonely as she usually felt. She seemed complete for once.

"What's got you so upbeat?" he asked.

"It's nothing," Leia replied softly. He didn't need to know yet that Darth Vader was her father. She was still trying to process it herself. "I'll explain it later. You just need to focus on getting well."

"I'm perfectly fine," Luke said starting to sit up but then winced and fell back on the bed.

"I'm not even going to argue with you because you're not getting up," Leia replied. "Now go back to sleep. I'm going to go take care of something."

"I don't know what you're going to take care of but you better not be causing trouble without me," Luke muttered closing his eyes.

Leia sighed and stared at Luke and as Vader watched he had to wonder if Leia and this boy weren't in a romantic relationship. What was it? There was no way to explain how close they were unless by some miracle, Padmé had been carrying twins, Luke and Leia were really siblings and Obi-Wan, the last person he knew Padmé to be with when she died, separated the twins in some twisted so-called honorable jedi effort to hide them from him… Vader suddenly looked at Luke and Leia thoughtfully. That would certainly explain a lot.

Vader touched touch the force, reaching out to explore Luke's force presence, but found his presence was being shielded, but not by Luke himself.

"Leia," Vader said and Leia turned to look at the man she now knew as her father. "Take your shield away from Luke's force signature."

"Why?" she asked narrowing her eyes. Vader may have been her father, but she'd turn on him before she let him hurt Luke. Luke had been there for her far longer than the thirty or so minutes Vader had.

"I have no intention of hurting him," Vader assured her. "Just let down your shield so that I can access his presence in the force."

Leia looked at Vader wearily before closing her eyes and dropping the shield giving Vader access to Luke's force presence. It was a blinding beacon of light in the force and he didn't need to find the part of himself that was in the boy's presence to know that this was his son. His force potential gave away his heritage.

"So?" Leia asked when she felt Vader pull back from Luke's presence. "What were you looking for?"

"What is Luke's surname Leia?" Vader asked.

"Why?" Leia asked cautiously.

"Leia," Vader warned.

"I may be your daughter but you're not going to hang that over my head. No one ever told me to respect my elders and I certainly don't plan to start. I know you kill jedi and force sensitives, and if I tell you his name you'll kill him like Tytus was going to," Leia snapped. "I don't know what the jedi did but you can't blame Luke for it. He couldn't choose his parents."

Vader sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the child. "You sound like your mother. She was always coming to the defense of those who couldn't help themselves even if she had to put herself at risk."

"My mother?" Leia asked. "Can you tell me about her?"

"After you tell me Luke's last name," Vader replied.

Leia glared at him. "That's no fair. I have the right to know about my mother. You can't bargain with me on that. I don't have to tell you anything, but since my mother is the other half of me, you have to tell about her eventually."

"Princess," Vader warned crossing his arms in ever growing impatience with her. "I'm warning you. You may have traveled the galaxy and wrecked havoc with reckless abandon for three years and now you're practically cleared of all charges because of your blood, but I can still punish you for your actions."

"You have no right," Leia shot.

"I have every right. I am your father," Vader pointed out.

"Aw shit," she muttered. He had cornered her again.

"And watch your mouth. Now tell me," he demanded.

Leia groaned and rolled her eyes. "His full name is Luke Skywalker. His father was Anakin Skywalker. Happy?"

Leia was starting to wish she was still ignorant of the fact that Vader was her father, but it made her feel better. She wasn't just losing the battle of wills with anyone. She was losing it to the person she had gotten her will and stubbornness from. Leia started to say something when Vader didn't reply but then sensed his shock.

"What now?" Leia asked looking at him. "What could you have found out that was possibly more shocking than finding out I was your daughter? I know. Anakin Skywalker was your brother and Luke is your nephew, my cousin. Or better yet," she continued in her sarcastic tone. "You used to be Anakin Skywalker and not only am I your daughter, but me and Luke are actually twins and we were separated at birth by the jedi as revenge because you turned on them."

Leia was sincerely joking, really only mixing up theories she had about Luke's father in the first place, but then she felt Vader's amusement and her jaw dropped in stunned disbelief. She was beginning to wonder if it would stay that way.

"No wonder you're both so close," he mused.

Leia opened and closed her mouth before a string of huttese phrases came out her mouth surprising Vader. Where had she learned huttese? And such vulgar huttese at that…

"Luke's really my brother?" she asked in wonder.

"So it would seem through the force. But if you don't believe it, I can get the doctor and request that he-."

Leia shook her head as she fell down in a chair next to Luke's bed. "No. It's true. I… I've always known somewhere that we were more than friends, but not in a romantic way even though everyone else thought we were," she added.

Vader was forever thankful to the force that they hadn't listened to what other people had said.

"Artoo," a prissy voice that was oddly familiar to Vader said. "Artoo. You must learn to understand humans. If they don't ask for your presence or help they don't want it."

A series of beeps and whistles followed the voice.

"I'm certain Master Luke is fine. Miss Leia would have told us if he wasn't. Besides, I'd prefer to stay back on the ship away from-."

Artoo burst into the room and rolled straight for Luke's bed while Threepio took one look at Vader and squeaked.

"Oh my," he said nervously and then nodded his head to Vader. "Please pardon my friend sir. He's an impulsive little droid, never does what he's told."

Artoo pointed out that Leia hadn't given them instructions and Leia had to nod in agreement. She had been so concerned about Luke, she forgot about the droids.

"Relax," Leia said to Threepio. "You won't be harmed."

Threepio looked uncertain at Vader, who had gone strangely quiet again, before turning to Leia.

"Well, Miss Leia, since I'm here I may as well inquire on Master Luke's health. He looked so pitiful when you brought him back on board. Will he be alright?"

Leia smiled. "He'll be fine, but he's never going to get any rest if we keep making all this noise. Let's go back to the lobby and I'll tell you in more detail."

Anxious to hear more about his Master's condition, Artoo started to roll out the room, and not paying attention to where he was going, he ran into Vader who was headed out the room. Vader turned around to look at the droid and tilted his head in a fashion that reminded Leia of Luke. The droid backed up and then zipped around Leia and hid behind her legs.

Leia gave Vader an exasperated look and then craned her neck to look at Artoo.

"It's alright Artoo. He's not going to do anything to you," she assured.

Artoo shook his dome and made a low reply.

"Of course I know he's Darth Vader. I'm not blind. He's my father," Leia said not feeling at all strange about referring to a man she hardly knew as her father. She always wanted to call someone that.

Artoo made a shrill beep and Leia laughed before heading out the room, Artoo sticking close behind her.

Vader continued to look at the droid in curiosity wondering what the odds were that his two children had met after being separated for ten years (he still had to ask Leia about that), gotten their parents two old droids, and stolen their mother's ship without getting caught… For anyone else the likelihood was slim to none, but when you added a Skywalker to the mix, the odds became exponentially higher.

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Leia sat in her room on her ship tossing Luke's light saber in her hands. Luke… Her brother. It felt right. She didn't even need a blood test to show it. She just knew. It rang true in the force. The part about Darth Vader being their father rang true too. Sure she and Luke had been running from him and the empire for a while, but to tell the truth, she had never seen the man as evil. She just saw a man that was doing his job and took it very seriously and if he had to be harsh to get the job done, he did it. Leia laughed. So that's where she got it from.

Leia sighed with a small smile on her face. She supposed any other person would have been horrified to find out Vader was their father, but she had done a lot of things and if she were to be judged just based on her actions thus far in her life, she'd be on her way to hell at that moment.

Vader meanwhile had never been so contemplative about something since he turned to the dark side to save his wife. The revelation that the child he thought had died with wife was alive was one thing. But to find out that it had been two, the little girl with his temperament and her mother's looks and the boy who inherited his piloting skills and handsome boyish features, that was almost more than he could handle. There were so many questions he wanted to ask and so many emotions he wanted to express, the main ones being joy and anger. Joy that the force reunited him with his long thought dead children and anger that they had been hidden from them in the first place.

The most obvious thing was that the emperor had apparently lied to him. He hadn't killed Padmé that day in his anger on Mustafar. She had to have lived long enough to give birth to the twins or they had been cut out of her dead body before they could die with her… He may never know, but he knew one person had something to do with their separation. Obi-Wan. There was a great possibility that it was Obi-Wan's fault the twins were separated. The real questions were, how had the two met, and who had they been with before they met and ran away from Tatooine? It was safe to assume that Luke had been with his step brother and wife on Tatooine, but what of Leia. He looked toward the room she had gone in. The only way to find out was to ask her.

He started for the door but just as he got there, Artoo wheeled into him. The droid backed out and let out a shrill whistle starting to back up but Vader stopped him.

"You don't remember me?" Vader asked and Artoo shook his dome starting to go the other way.

"I guess you cannot be blamed. I did look a lot different during the clone wars," Vader replied.

Artoo stopped, his one eye inspected him closely before he began to rock in anticipation. Then he stopped and said something angrily.

Vader sighed and began to reply but Leia opened the door.

"Artoo. What are you doing?" she asked, her hair in a braid over her shoulder.

Artoo said something to Leia, and Leia blinked looking at Vader.

"This used to be your droid?" she asked in curiosity.

Vader nodded and then turned to look at Leia "Leia, I would like to speak with you. I have some questions."

Leia looked at Vader before stepping aside to let him in her room. There was something she wanted to ask him first though. As she sat down on the small cot and he stood on the other side of the room he began to start, but Leia cut him off.

"I'll answer anything you want me to answer if you just answer one question for me," Leia offered.

Vader crossed his arms. "Ultimatums again?"

"But this time you want something from me," Leia said. "And to be honest, I can live without the answer to my question. I haven't known for this long. I can go the rest of my life to be honest."

Vader would have thought she was bluffing if not for the cold, careless attitude he felt from her in the force.

"What do you want?" he asked cautiously.

Leia smiled and then leaned back in her chair playing with her blaster. "I want to know about my mother."

Vader stiffened. "Your mother?"

Leia nodded. "I never knew her. She died right after I was born… after me and Luke were born I guess. Who was she?"

Vader was silent, the only sound coming from him being that of his mechanical breathing. Leia didn't know how tall a request that was. He'd rather forget about Padmé most times. It brought back painful memories of what he had done to her which he thought had killed her but obviously, according to Leia, she had really lived long enough to give them birth and not only that name the children, because Leia was the name he had decided on before.

He sighed.

"Well?" Leia asked.

"That is in the past Leia and she is dead. There is no use dwelling on it," Vader said softly and expected the girl to blow up when she clenched her jaw.

Instead of doing that though, she simply said, "You don't like to talk about her huh? Forgetting about her helps you pretend she never existed huh? Well answer me this. I know you married her since she was your wife. But did you love her at all or was she more like a mistress or something?"

Vader felt rage bubble inside him. "You think that I have no honor? Besides, she was far from that kind of woman. She was a senator."

"Just saying. I've been around the galaxy a few times and just because she gave Luke your last name doesn't mean you loved each other. It's not in some people's capacity to love. If it were, some evils wouldn't exist," Leia said softly.

"I did I suppose," Vader replied to satisfy the girl.

"You sound uncertain… You hurt her didn't you?" Leia asked and Vader was surprised by the girl's calmness. It made him wonder what the girl had seen that made her shrug off things like this. "You weren't trying to were you?"

"I was not," Vader admitted.

Leia sat back and stared at him and Vader felt her trying to gauge his honesty through the force. Finally she nodded her head. "You'll be alright for a dad then. Can't really say how Luke will take it though."

Vader started to ask her something and then noticed the light saber sitting next to her. He pointed to it.

"Where did you get that?"

Leia scowled. "Some jedi named Ben Kenobi that Luke used to know on Tatooine. Said it used to be yours. Luke seems to think he's an alright guy. I never knew him, so I wouldn't know."

Vader felt a surge of anger in him and to prevent himself from potentially lashing out at Leia in his anger (because if their conversation in the hospital was anything to go by, father or not, she wouldn't make things easy), he left the room. Leia looked after him puzzled but thought it was a good idea not to follow him.

Days passed, a bit slow for Leia as she was used to having Luke around and without his presence, her nightmares started to return. There was only one more day. They had put Luke in the bacta earlier that day and tomorrow he would be awake and knowing him, ready to get out of the hospital. That comforting thought didn't help Leia sleep any better than night though, and so she did the next best thing.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered following the dark presence that was Vader. She still couldn't get used to calling him her father even though she was positive that's who he was and had no problem acknowledging it if anyone asked. To think the jokes she used to make about how likely it was in comparison to things like her and Luke being twins. The force had a sick sense of humor, if it had one at all.

She found Vader sitting in the cockpit of the ship, carefully inspecting its controls. Leia sat beside in the co-pilot's seat. It was odd seeing Vader sitting next to her. He was in Luke's spot.

"You and your brother have done an excellent job keeping this ship in top condition," he commented when he sensed her next to him.

"Mostly Luke's doings. He has a knack for fixing things. He used to take speeders on Tatooine and fix them up so he could race them. They never looked like much, but no one could rig an engine like Luke could. He brags that he can fly anything that will lift up into the air. I always found it fitting that his last name was Skywalker for that reason," Leia said playing with her necklace.

"Hm," was all Vader said, though he was strangely pleased that his son had inherited his hobbies.

"I can do the same things, but it doesn't interest me as much as it does Luke," Leia said shrugging.

"What things do interest you then?"

"Defending others I guess. Luke says I like to fight, but it's not about that. Sometimes talking doesn't work, even though I'm a better negotiator than he is, and it takes a blaster to the head to drive the point in," Leia muttered dryly.

"My sentiments exactly," Vader noted.

Leia sighed and became silent as she seemed to brood over something. It was then Vader realized that not only was she awake at an ungodly hour for her, but that she seemed a little frightened, nervous and apprehensive.

"Why are you awake?" he asked.

"Why are you? I've never seen you sleep in these last few days. Do you sleep at all?" Leia asked trying to change the subject.

"Occasionally," Vader admitted. "So?"

Leia held back a groan. How was it that he always knew what she was trying to do and outmaneuvered her?

_He's your dad. You probably inherited your wit from him, _a voice said in the back of her head.

She made the pretense of seeming relaxed, but Vader could sense the tension in her, along with her sudden uncomfortable demeanor, as well as her heightened apprehension and nervousness.

"Just worried about Luke," she lied and had Vader not been able to touch the force, he would have believed it.

"No you are not," he replied simply.

"I am," Leia retorted.

"While that may be true, it is not what is keeping you awake," said Vader. "What is wrong?"

Leia sighed. She should have stayed in bed, so she started to get up to do just that before Vader said simply with a hint of commanding, "Tell me."

"You're not the boss of me," she snapped. "No one is. Besides, you wouldn't understand. Only Luke does," she added in a softer, somewhat sad tone.

Vader was silent and crossed his arms as he stared out the window. Leia started to leave again when he finally said, "For whatever reason that you are afraid to sleep alone, if it bothers you that much, you are welcome to stay in my company although I'm not sure my presence will be as comforting as your brother's usually is."

Leia sat back down in her seat expecting him to force her to tell him what was wrong which would end up with her being angry and stomping out the cockpit, but he didn't say a word.

Vader on the other hand knew Leia was looking for a good reason to hate him and if he pried too much, she may very well use that as a reason. However, he was curious about why the child seemed so secretive and danced around certain pieces of her past. For instance, she mentioned that Luke lived on Tatooine with his aunt and uncle, but she never mentioned why she was there. It made sense that if they didn't know each other for ten years and really had been separated that she had lived on another planet. But Vader was willing to wait for a while. Hopefully Leia would say something before he grew impatient though. She tried him even now and they hardly spoke more than once a day since they met.

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_In the next chapter, Luke knows something is up, especially since Leia seems like she's been somewhat subdued by the Darth Vader and it's driving him insane that she won't tell him, especially when Vader offers them bother the chance to join him and overthrow the emperor to take over the empire…_

So I got my first essay back and I have to wonder why I can't pull A's on these things. The reason why? First, I'm a creative genius and like all creative geniuses, no one understands the point they're trying to make when they try to make it. Secondly is because I'm a creative genius and my forte is Creative Writing, so when I'm pushed into the confines of a subject that doesn't interest me, I'm _lucky_ to pull off an acceptable grade. If I had the money, I'd go off to an art school in Chicago or New York or one in Atlanta and take up creative writing even though a lot of people say there's nothing I can do with the degree, but hey I'm interested in it, I'll pull something off…

Anyway, not much to say about this chapter. Only that I have to imagine Vader talking from the movies to pull off his character in relationship to the twins right. How do I make Vader a father and the cold unfeeling second in command to the empire? It's a delicate thing to play with. Hope you enjoyed. Review please!


	2. Dysfunctional Family

You don't know how weird it is only having one story to update since my other series is done. Now it's just this and I can focus purely on writing it to the end. This chapter was interesting to say the least. I enjoyed writing it. Anyway, not much to say about it except it was interesting writing Vader observe how Luke and Leia interacted and sometimes argued and his perspective from a father and military man, especially since Luke and Leia don't see any problem with their behavior at times since they're just used to being around each other. Lol. Read, enjoy, and review!

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**Chapter Two**

**Dysfunctional Family  
**

When Luke opened his eyes, he was aware of two things immediately. One was that he was alive and two was that he wasn't on Dathomir anymore. He was in a hospital or something… He started to sit up and then abruptly fell back down. His entire body ached. He sat up slower as not to hurt himself again and then propped himself up on his pillows. A million questions were going through his mind, the first on his mind being where was Leia?

At that moment, the said girl walked through the door and launched herself at him.

"Luke!" she exclaimed hugging him tightly.

Luke winced. "Leia…"

Leia let go of him when she felt his pain in the force. "Sorry. You won't believe how worried I was about you. You almost died back on Dathomir."

Luke sensing her sadness grabbed her hand. "I'm fine now Leia. That's what's important. Where are we anyway?"

Leia shrugged. "Not really sure. All I know is that they have one of the best medical facilities in the galaxy. You needed it after what Tytus did to you."

Luke was instantly on alert again and he cursed. "Tytus, where is he?"

Leia pushed Luke back down as he tried to sit up more all the while shaking her head.

"Don't worry about him. He's dead," Leia replied.

It was then Luke suddenly became aware of some things. The first thing was that Leia didn't seem like she was being entirely honest with him. Not that she was lying, but she wasn't saying something. Next, she seemed strangely happy about something as well as conflicted. Luke crossed his arms.

"Leia," he said in a warning tone.

Leia played dumb, "What?"

Luke glared at her. "You're not telling me something. Where are we? What happened and how did you kill Tytus?"

Leia crossed her arms to match his stare. "We'll talk about it later."

"Leia," Luke said knowing Leia. She would do something incredibly dangerous and stupid if it meant saving his life, not that he wouldn't do the same, but he didn't feel that she should have to do that. She didn't deserve that kind of burden. He protected her, not the other way around.

"You might freak out," Leia warned and then started to tell him until Threepio came in.

"Oh Master Luke! It's so good to have you back with us. We were afraid you might not make it. That would have been terrifying. What would we have done without you?" he asked in relief.

"Hey Threepio," Luke said smiling at the droid. "Where's Artoo?"

Artoo rolled into the room at that moment whistling and beeping something, but it wasn't directed to anyone in the room. Just as Luke started to ask who Artoo was talking to he heard a noise that froze his blood. The mechanical breathing became louder and into the room came Darth Vader replying to Artoo, but Luke didn't hear what he said. He just sat staring at the man stunned.

"Holy sith," Luke muttered and then looked at Leia who looked strangely calm about all of this. "Leia, what's he doing here?"

"He killed Tytus… and I asked him to help me…" Leia said trailing off. Sure people were afraid of her temper and tendency to overreact, but when Luke lost it, it was scary if only for the fact that Luke never got angry unless it was when he was defending Leia.

Luke glared at Vader and then at Leia.

"You're joking right?" he asked dryly. "Please tell me he captured you and gave you no choice."

"Well he would have anyway. Not like I could get anywhere trying to drag you behind me," Leia said. "Besides, you were dying. I had to do something."

"You wouldn't have had to if you had just left like I told you," Luke shot.

"It's really not as bad as you think," Leia said trying to explain.

"Not that bad," Luke said laughing and forgetting Vader was standing there. "Not that kriffing bad. Leia you idiot!"

"Who are you calling idiot you-." Leia insulted him in huttese and Luke, who knew more huttese than she did, switched all the way to foul language.

Vader didn't know whether to be amused by the two arguing or horrified by their extreme lack of discipline. They were both extremely casual in their use of vulgar language, almost like it was habit. Then again, he guessed travelling in the galaxy, especially since they seemed to travel in the outer rim a lot, forced them to have to use certain language to get their points across, especially being that they were only sixteen. Most adults didn't take a twenty year old seriously.

"Luke you ungrateful nerf herder. Vader's the one who stopped Tytus from killing you and if it was going to be a tossup between letting you die or asking him for help, asking him for help would have won out a million times over," Leia yelled "I wasn't going to let you die even if I had to sell my soul and freedom to do it."

Luke started to reply when her words sunk in. He owed Darth Vader of all people his life. The second in command to the empire that they had been running from saved him, and he didn't have to. Now, not only did he owe him for helping him save Leia a year ago, he owed him for saving him when he could have let Luke die and been rid of a nuisance to the empire.

"Oh stars," Luke said leaning back in his bed. He suddenly felt horribly sick.

Leia smirked as she looked at him "You look like you need a really strong drink."

"Yeah… Do we still have some Corellian whiskey?" he asked. "This is too much."

Vader decided that this was no laughing matter. His children were in dire need of structure and discipline starting now.

"No one under the legal drinking age will be consuming alcoholic beverages, especially not Corellian whiskey."

"Depends on where you are actually," Leia said. "On Tatooine no one cares."

"Well you'll both act according to the legal age in Coruscant law and that says that the legal drinking age is eighteen," Vader declared.

Leia rolled her eyes. "And when did you have you first drink?"

"That has nothing to do with you princess," Vader warned.

"Who do you think you are? My dad or something?" Luke asked crossing his arms and tilting his head.

Leia and glanced at Vader who was staring at her. They had agreed it wouldn't be good for Luke's recovery to tell him the truth immediately, at least not about who Vader was.

"Can me and Luke talk for a minute?" she asked Vader.

Vader looked at Leia, and though Leia couldn't see under the mask, she got the message through the force. She had better hurry up because he wanted to talk to Luke himself.

Darth Vader left the room followed by Artoo Luke noted. He seemed strangely attached to the sith lord after so short a time.

"Looks like you all have gotten all buddy buddy with Vader while I was out," Luke said to her.

Leia sat on his bed across from him. "He's not that bad after a while."

"This is coming from the girl who doesn't trust anyone and hates men," Luke pointed out.

"True, but I've met some real bastards Luke and Vader is different. There's something about him," Leia said.

"And you know what that something is," Luke accused. "Since when do we hide things from each other?"

Leia felt his hurt in the force and felt guilty about hiding the truth from Luke, but she had no idea how he'd take it. She supposed if she had been raised differently, by people who really were against Vader and everything he stood for, she'd hate the idea. For once though, she was worried about how Luke would react. Sure he was the impulsive one and a bit cocky when he wanted to be, but he was rational-at least a little more rational than she was- and took things calmly and in stride. She on the other had was logical, tried not to jump head on into things until she had at least thought it out a little (she became impulsive in the midst of the situation), and was the diplomat when needed, but didn't react to things well. Either she went off the handle or she was completely passive about it. There was no in between about certain things.

However, the roles reversed completely when it came to Luke's sense of good, light, and right. Even after three years of traveling around the galaxy, Luke still had an innocent outlook on life and when he found out Vader was his father… He would definitely find that whiskey. Leia on the other hand had seen real evil and the so-called atrocities Vader committed were nothing compared to them.

"So are you going to tell me?" Luke asked when Leia didn't respond.

"He knew our parents," Leia finally said with a small smile. It wasn't exactly a lie…

"He knew my father?" Luke asked.

"And mine," Leia added. "He used to be a jedi but he doesn't talk about it much."

"What about your mother?"

"He won't talk about that much either. I think he may have been in love with her. He recognized my necklace. Said he accidentally hurt her," Leia explained. That wasn't exactly a lie either.

"How do you feel about all that?" Luke asked.

"He didn't mean it. I don't know the whole story, but he regrets it," Leia said in a tone of certainty. She couldn't hold back her smile anymore and Luke noticed.

"What is it?"

"The doctor thought they might have to do a blood transfusion and wanted to see if we have the same blood type since they thought we were siblings," Leia said still smiling, but Luke frowned.

"What happened?"

"I told Vader the truth. We weren't siblings. But he didn't believe me because he said unless we were soul mates or something, it was impossible for two people to have such a strong bond unless they were related. Anyway, he did this thing with the force and then did a blood test to make sure," Leia said.

"Was he surprised we weren't related?" Luke asked and Leia shook her head.

"That's the point. He was right."

Luke was silent for a moment as he thought about what this meant. Vader's assumption was they had been siblings or soul mates so that meant…

"We're soul mates?" Luke asked skeptically.

Leia laughed and moved to sit next to Luke hugging him around the waist and leaning her head on his chest.

"No Luke. We're twins."

Luke looked down at her in shock. "Twins?"

"I can get the doctor to show you the results if you want."

Luke gaped at her. And to think she used to joke that the likelihood of them being twins was about as likely as Darth Vader being their father. And then everything made sense. It was the reason even though they played around and flirted a bit, they never really tried nor really wanted to pursue a romantic relationship, why Luke felt like he knew her when they met on Tatooine, why Luke had always done what he could to protect her and had never abandoned her even when he had the chance to, why Leia didn't leave him on Dathomir even when he told her to. Somewhere, subconsciously perhaps, they had both known.

"Oh wow," Luke said. "Talk about irony."

"I know. What were the odds?" Leia asked.

"You could always ask Threepio," Luke said grinning.

"I'd prefer not to. To think that all this time we were twins and didn't know it," Leia said.

Luke shook his head. "Well it makes sense. It's why we're more powerful when we work together. And you do know that means I was right to share my birthday with you… And your name really is Leia Skywalker. I wonder why we were separated."

Leia frowned. She was trying to figure that out herself. Someone had deliberately hidden them from their father. Luke must have been sent to Tatooine and Leia was adopted but other than that, Leia was just as stumped. She had never been so curious about her adoptive parents in her life now.

"Maybe someone was trying to hide us from the empire. I mean, ever since we showed all that force potential, they've been trying to find us," Luke suggested.

"I think it was the jedi," she said to Luke.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"I'm saying that maybe our dad turned on the jedi," Leia said to Luke trying to tell him the most truth she could without telling him Vader was their father. "Think about it Luke. Our dad was the most known jedi in the galaxy and the guy disappears during the purges, and it's assumed the empire killed him. Someone that famous doesn't just die without a big story about it. Something doesn't add up you know?" Leia continued trying to get Luke to think about the possibility that their father was alive and well… somewhat anyway.

"Why would our father turn on the jedi? They were the peace keepers in the republic according to what we know."

"But the history books say they tried to take over the republic," Leia pointed out.

"And the history books were written by the empire," Luke deadpanned. "And by accusing someone else of trying to take over, someone else took over in the name of protecting the freedom of the galaxy and now look what happened?"

"I'm not saying I agree with the empire, but the jedi don't actually seem like the kind of people I would want to be a part of," Leia pointed out.

"I knew a jedi. Ben was a nice guy."

"And Tytus tried to kill you for something our dad did. Besides, I'm not saying they were evil, but to deny people the right to have a family or love just sounds wrong and do you know that they used to take children from their parents when they were younger to train as jedi?" Leia asked.

"Where did you find out all this?" Luke asked dryly.

"I've been looking it all up the last few days. Anyway, a person had to dedicate their entire life to it, no family, no material items, no life. It was just the force and serving others. Sounds a lot like slavery to me," said Leia.

"Seems like they had the right principals involved. They were just basing things off of how people were a thousand years ago or something. They didn't change. But how do we know if that's true or not?" Luke asked.

The sound of Vader clearing his throat gained the twins attention. He stood with his arms crossed.

"If you don't mind Leia, I would like to speak with your brother privately," he said.

To Luke's everlasting shock, Leia simply shot Vader a glare and walked past him without a word.

_What are you doing? _he sent.

Leia gave a mental sigh and said, _When you're dealing with Darth Vader, you learn it's pointless to argue early on._

With that, Leia cut off their communications and Luke was left with Vader. Both of them stared at each other for a moment before Luke finally spoke.

"Don't think because you have me and Leia here now you've won. We'll escape again," he said.

Vader almost rolled his eyes. "Calm down child. I have no intention of hurting you and your sister. Quite the contrary actually."

"What do you mean by that?" Luke asked.

"It's long overdue that I overthrow the emperor, but because of my obvious disadvantage, I haven't had the chance to do so," Vader said. "But you and your sister being as powerful as you are, if you help me…"

"We're not joining you," Luke said not wanting to hear any more. "Why would we? Our father was a jedi."

"Yes," Vader said. "And I knew him quite well."

"Really," Luke asked hopefully and then realizing that Darth Vader could use this against him said in a more careless tone, "Oh really?"

Vader smirked under his mask. He knew exactly what the child was trying to do. He sat down in a chair.

"Yes. He was a good friend of mine," Vader replied.

"Was he?" Luke asked carefully. "If he was such a good friend, what happened to him?"

"The jedi turned against the republic, tried to take over and when your father wouldn't join them, they left him to die and took his pregnant wife with them. I'm assuming they separated the two of you to hide you from me and use you to take down the empire someday," Vader said to him. The end was an assumption, but it was a highly likely assumption.

"So you mean to tell me my father would have wanted me to join you.

Vader paused. "Perhaps."

Luke leaned into his pillows with his arms cross. "What does Leia think about it?"

"I'm presenting this offer to you first. Your sister knows nothing about this yet," Vader pointed out.

Luke began to think about it. He could just imagine all the good they could do for the galaxy if they joined Darth Vader, all the things they could learn about the force. Besides, if they got the training and it didn't work out, they could always escape…

"I'm not making a decision without Leia," Luke decided.

Vader paused to regard his son. He was very loyal to his sister and had been loyal to her before he even knew she was his sister. The sith lord pointed this observation out to Luke and the boy sighed. Vader picked up on his confusion and conflict in the force, but instead of prying, he waited for the boy to speak.

"I always swore I'd never do anything without her. People always said we were too close to not be siblings… well the ones who knew we weren't. They used to think we were a couple, especially when Leia decided she wanted to flirt and play around. But it wasn't like that at all. Not sure how long that would have lasted though. I didn't plan on ever leaving her and I did kind of toss the idea of marrying her one day around in my head a few times. We were already best friends, more than that even," Luke admitted and then when he felt something akin to alarm and anger from Vader he added. "Not like that. We were never _that_ close. But I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm glad that we found out before we got to that because I really did love her, still do, and to be quite honest, I was starting not to know what to think about Leia."

"She is very much like your mother in some ways, diplomatic, confident, defending others before she ever defends herself," Vader commented thanking the force that he got his hands on the children in time.

"Let me guess," said Luke. "She got her temper, wit, impatience, and stubbornness from our dad?"

"The stubbornness can be blamed on both your parents," Vader replied. "But yes. You can blame your father for your sister's other character traits."

Luke was silent for a moment and thought, _I can't believe I'm having a conversation with Darth Vader. I actually feel comfortable around this guy. Then again, Leia would say she's been around worse. _Vader caught the thought through a leak in his mental shields and felt a surge of anger. His children should feel comfortable around him and not feel like it was such a horrible crime to feel that way. Then again, he guessed they had heard and seen the horrors of the empire after travelling on back water planets and uncovering confidential information in the last three years. It wasn't his fault though. Vader was forced to obey the emperor and bid his time until the time came for him to finally overthrow the man.

"Let me talk to Leia first and then we'll decide what we're going to do," Luke finally said.

"Fair enough," Vader replied. "But I warn you. My patience has its limits."

Luke laughed. "I didn't know you had any patience or that you were fair at all. You're not exactly known for it."

Vader didn't reply and left the room. Leia came in a few minutes later.

"You called?" Leia asked coming into the room.

"Yeah," Luke said thinking over what Vader said to him.

"What's wrong?" Leia asked and narrowed her eyes. "What did Vader say to you? What did he do?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Why are you always assuming someone has done something wrong?"

Leia gave him a pointed look and Luke slapped his forehead saying. "That's right. Never mind. But no, he didn't do anything. In fact he gave us an interesting offer."

Leis raised her eyebrow and sat on the bed. "What?"

"He wants us to join him," Luke said simply and to his surprise Leia didn't immediately jump off the bed in disbelief and cross her arms with a defiant no. In fact, she didn't seem to have much of a reaction at all. She wasn't even putting up a fight.

"I figured as much," she said simply.

Luke looked at her in alarm. This wasn't Leia. Leia was not submissive. In fact, she was anything but submissive. It was the reason she was always in trouble with her master as a slave, why every time he went to see her, he was helping her clean some bruised from where Meyrin had smacked her because of her defiance.

"So?" Luke asked beginning to wonder what Vader had done to make her like this.

Leia, sensing Luke's suspicion, started to talk.

"I think it's a good idea. If we join him, more than likely he'll train us. Just think. This may be our only opportunity to learn more about the force. I mean look at how powerful we are together now. Just think of what we can do with a little training," Leia said.

Now Leia was sounding more like herself. But usually it would have been after he convinced her that it might be a good idea and that it was probably their only option at the time… Something wasn't right about this.

"You sure about this?" Luke asked trying not to sound suspicious.

"Sure," Leia said and then added dryly in a more exasperated tone than angry one, "It's our only choice right now anyway. You have to get better."

"I am better. In fact, we could escape right now if we wanted," Luke said, but he got the feeling that Leia didn't want to escape at all.

"Luke, we've done the running around with blaster wounds and broken bones before and it never made us feel good afterwards. For once you're getting some of the best care in the galaxy and I want you to. So just rest and if we find that this isn't going to work out, we'll blast our way out of here," Leia said standing up.

"Well you should go get him then," Luke said and Leia laughed.

"That pain medicine must make your senses really dull if you don't sense him standing next to the door," she pointed out.

Vader came back in the room standing with his arms crossed and Luke noted that he and Leia made the exact same pose when they were becoming impatient about something.

"So?" he asked.

Luke and Leia exchanged a look. "Alright," Leia said.

"We'll join you… for now," Luke said.

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A few days later, Luke still wasn't quite recovered, but that didn't stop him from getting up and dressed, despite the fact that he still couldn't breathe without a little chest pain. In fact, he managed to sneak out the hospital to the hanger where the Amidala was docked. He stepped onto it and felt better immediately. The Amidala was home to him. He decided that the ship needed an engine tune up and started to find the tools needed to do so.

"You're supposed to be resting young one," Vader pointed out.

Luke rolled his eyes. Count on the sith lord to find him…

"I'm bored. I'm going to explode if I have to stay in that bed any longer," Luke replied going to the engine. "Besides, you're not the boss of me last time I checked."

Luke headed for the latch that opened the panel covering the engine and opened it. Then he added, "And I don't know what you said or did to Leia to make her so submissive all of a sudden, but if I found out you hurt her or threatened her, I swear I'll try to kill you."

"You're very protective of her," Vader noted taking this as a good opportunity to find out more about the children's past.

"That's what everyone says," Luke said starting to work on the engine. "And it's not surprising considering I'm her brother."

"But you were protective before that, more than any brother protecting his sister I've encountered. Why?"

Luke looked at him in a calculating manner before sighing. "Don't tell Leia I told you this, but she had a hard life before I met her, still had one while I knew her until we ran away from Tatooine. You've only known her for a few days so you may not have noticed, but she does things and says things that people don't understand sometimes, and it's not that she's trying to. She just can't help it. She did things to survive and some of the habits are hard to break. I used to think that was just a cliché, but it's true. That's why I'm surprised she hasn't tried to blow your brains out yet if you did threaten or hurt her. She has the tendency to shoot first and ask questions later."

"I wouldn't have guessed," Vader commented. "She seems to be very diplomatic."

"When she wants to be," Luke said taking a piece off the engine to clean it. "Sl- Her past really messed her up. She doesn't trust anyone and is always inclined to think the worst of people while I'm the exact opposite."

"Like your mother," Vader pointed out.

Luke smiled slightly. "I wish she hadn't died… for Leia's sake more than mine. I didn't have an easy life, but it was heaven compared to what Leia went through."

"You always seem to talk about Leia. What about yourself?"

"Why do you care?" Luke asked.

"I thought you were the trusting one," said Vader.

"I am. But since Leia has apparently been taken over by some alternate personality, I have to compensate," Luke replied.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere trying to get to know his son like this, Vader looked at the engine.

"You have taken great care of this ship," Vader said.

"It was the least we could do after we stole it from Naboo. But it wasn't like they were getting any use from it just sitting there in honor of Padmé Amidala's memory. We named it after her anyway though. Leia said it was the least we could do after we dishonored her," Luke replied.

Vader smirked. They hadn't dishonored her as much as they had just taken repossession of a ship that was theirs to have since their mother died anyway.

"You know, there are many enhancements you can use to improve the speed and hyper drive capabilities on this ship," Vader said.

"I know, but I can't figure out how. A friend of ours, Han, he had some ideas, but to do it his way would take away from the integrity of the ship I think. It would make the ship faster, but it would make the ship stall and for every time we could get into hyperspace, the hyper drive would fail at least twice. Not to mention all the rewiring I would have to do and I didn't want to ruin how nice this ship already is," Luke said.

"I can help you with that," Vader suggested.

Luke sat back suddenly and turned to Vader. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes child."

"Was Padmé Amidala our mother?"

Vader tensed. "Why do you ask?"

"Because she looks just like Leia… Well except for the hair, but Leia's hair was like that before the suns bleached it. She still has some of the streaks under that dye."

"Dye?"

"Yeah," Luke said running a hand through his own hair. "My hair is actually blonde. So was she? I heard she died before she gave birth but if me and Leia were hidden, was it possible they made her look pregnant?"

Vader almost smiled. Luke was very intuitive.

"I suppose they could have, but yes. She was your mother," Vader replied and Luke smiled.

"I always knew she was Leia's mother before, even though Leia didn't want to admit it, but it's nice at least knowing who my mother was," he said. "No wonder Leia acts like a spoiled little princess sometimes."

Luke started to mess with the engine again and then dropped a tool, but he reached out and stopped it from falling in mid-air with the force calling it back to his hand.

"I look forward to teaching you and your sister how to use the force. Your father would have been appalled at how little you know about it at this age," Vader commented.

Luke looked at Vader out the corner of his eye curiously, shook his head and went back to the engine. Vader started to point to the hyper drive and show him how to modify it for faster space travel when Leia called from below with Artoo.

"Luke Skywalker," she said and went over to where Vader and Luke were sitting. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I'm tired of resting Leia," Luke whined. "Why can't we just leave here? I hate hospitals."

"Maybe if you let the doctor look at that hand again, we can convince him to let you go early," Leia suggested.

Luke sighed. "I'm coming," he said closed the panel and jumped down from where he was, landing neatly on his feet next to Leia. He winced rubbing his chest and Vader watched as Leia berated him for being so reckless.

As Vader watched them, he began to make plans on how he was going to train them. No doubt they had missed years of school and though they had worldly knowledge, worldly knowledge he preferred they didn't have, they needed to finish their formal education. Then, they needed to learn an extraordinary amount of discipline if they were to be future rulers of the empire. But before he even did all this, he needed to tell Luke who he was.

He got back in the room late in the evening and found Luke and Leia to already be asleep. Luke was lying on his back and Leia was next to him with her head on his chest, Luke's arm wrapped protectively around her. This was the first good sleep Leia had gotten in days. Vader wasn't sensing the turmoil and fear he had sensed when she was sleep before. He went over to the two and ran a hand through Luke's bangs, his brown bangs. They would have to rectify that later.

Vader started to touch Leia and then sensed a presence behind him. It wasn't menacing but it was oddly familiar and strong with the force. Vader turned around with his light saber at the ready to defend him and his children. No jedi was going to take them away from him again.

He was shocked when he found the shimmering blue form of someone he hadn't thought about in a long time, over a decade. He stared, stunned with his light saber still raised.

The figure rolled her eyes.

"You can't kill a person that's already dead Sky Guy."

Vader certainly hadn't heard that name in a long time.

"What are you doing here? And how is that you're here if you're dead?" Vader asked the torgruta woman.

Ahsoka's spirit walked around Vader to stand over the twins.

"I can retain my consciousness through the force. Padmé asked me to help the twins when they needed it. She would have, but she can't cross over back into the living world. I've been helping to a limited extent," she said.

"Do they know?" Vader asked referring to the twins.

"It's only recently that I manage to tell Leia my name, but they don't really see me per say. They see a light that they know is a spirit. That's more than other untrained force users can see though," she said.

"How is Padmé?" Vader asked after a moment's hesitation.

"She's fine, very sad. She still has faith in you. You know?" Ahsoka asked and then added dryly, "That's a lot more than I can say."

"Did you come here to tell me that?" Vader asked wishing she weren't dead so he could be rid of her.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "This wasn't my idea. I just came to check on Luke and Leia before you take them with you. I should go to Obi-Wan and Yoda and tell them that you have them."

Vader glared at her. He didn't care if she were dead or not, if she even thought about trying to take Luke and Leia away from him he'd find a way to make her feel more pain than she ever had.

"But I don't think that's best for them. The force wants this. So does Padmé. She's watched over them for years and she wants them to have a stable home, especially Leia. But I'm not sure how stable a home they'll have with you as their father."

Vader ignored that insult and addressed what his former student said before that.

"Leia?" Vader asked. "Luke says she's had a difficult life. What does he mean?"

"They'll tell you eventually," Ahsoka said. "Don't be too angry when you find out."

Ahsoka began to fade away. "Padmé says take care of them the best you can. She knows you will… And try not to let them get their hands on alcoholic beverages until they're eighteen."

"So you're not coming back?"

"I'll be checking in every now and then, but they don't need me right now. Padmé says they have you now," Ahsoka replied and faded away.

Leia stirred at that moment and sat her head up. "Dad, who were you talking to?"

Vader's heart skipped a beat when Leia called him Dad. She was half sleep and probably wouldn't remember it in the morning, but she had called him that nonetheless.

"No one princess. You get some more rest now. We'll be leaving in a few hours," he said.

Leia nodded and laid her head back down, falling asleep.

The next morning, while Luke was putting on some clean clothes and the doctor was telling him how to act for the next couple of weeks, Leia walked behind Vader with Artoo. Threepio was going to walk with Luke when he was done. Vader however, was very annoyed with his daughter at that moment.

"Seriously, when are you going to tell him?" Leia asked. "He needs to know. The longer we hide it from him, the worse his reaction is going to be. If there's anything Luke hates, it's when someone hides something from him."

"We will tell him while in the confines of your ship in hyperspace," Vader replied again. "I believe we already discussed this."

"But he's already suspicious. He thinks you did something to me and if he even gets the inkling that you hurt me, he's going to try to kill you. He's tried to kill people for just threatening to kill me. He killed my-." Leia abruptly stopped.

"He killed who?" Vader asked turning to her.

Leia avoided his eyes and cursed herself for becoming so comfortable around him that she made a slip up like that. "No one. It's nothing."

"Is this about why you ran away from Tatooine? About that Imperial officer that was found dead in Mos Eisly?" Vader asked.

"No, of course not," Leia said smoothly.

"You're lying child," Vader said.

"Do all teenagers have problems hiding things from their parents?" Leia muttered.

"All children with force strong parents," Vader said.

Leia groaned and stomped away from him heading up the ramp of _Queen Amidala_. Vader stared at the child who had an obvious attitude problem and abrupt mood swings. She needed more discipline than even Luke did perhaps. He started to call after her when he sensed Luke's approach. Luke stood next to him staring after Leia.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked

Vader didn't reply and headed up the ramp to the ship. Luke raised his eyebrow at the man's retreating form. He reminded him very much of Leia, ignoring things he didn't want to talk about.

Luke went to the cockpit and saw Threepio and Artoo already in their spot, as well as Leia, but Vader was in Luke's seat.

"This is our ship and I pilot it," Luke said standing next to Vader expecting him to move out the way.

"That may be so, but I'm on the ship right now and since you don't even know where we're going, I'll be the one flying from now on," Vader said simply.

Luke gaped at him and Leia rolled her eyes. This wasn't going to go over well since it seemed like both of them liked flying and knew they were good pilots. So this was where Luke got his love of flying from.

"That's not fair. You can't just come on here and take over," Luke snapped.

"Actually, considering who this is he-." Threepio was cut off by Luke.

"I don't care who he is. This is me and Leia's ship and we'll be the ones to fly it," Luke said glaring at Vader. "Move aside."

Vader turned his mask slightly to Luke and said dryly, "I hope you aren't trying to intimidate me child."

"So what if I am?" Luke asked.

Vader just looked at the child and then as if deciding Luke wasn't worth his time at the moment, he turned back to the control and took off.

Luke stared at Vader dumbfounded, unable to believe that the man had just brushed him off. That was something Luke did to other people, not something people did to him. Leia stifled a laughed at Luke's expression, but Luke, sensing her amusement said, "Ha ha. Laugh it up Leia."

"There's no point in trying to argue with him Luke," she said as Luke sat down next to her and crossed his arms. "I've been with the guy all week and he always wins."

_Sith grouch, _Luke sent to Leia who laughed.

"I heard that," Vader said to them.

"Oh stang," Luke muttered.

"And watch your language son," Vader replied.

"I'm not your son," Luke said.

Leia rolled her eyes at the irony as she got up and headed to the back when Vader made the jump to hyperspace.

"You may check the controls if you wish," Vader said standing up. "To see if I got everything right or made an error," he added and Luke had a feeling he was humoring him more than anything.

With that Vader followed behind Leia leaving Luke in a disgruntled mood. Artoo called him and Luke snapped, "What?"

Artoo made a shrill whistle in response and rushed out behind Vader. Luke faintly heard Artoo say something to the sith and then Vader reply, "I was much the same way in my youth. He may eventually grow out of it."

Artoo made a dry response.

"You must admit though, it isn't as obvious."

Luke groaned. That was it. Something was going on and they weren't telling him what. He made his way to the back where he found Leia listening intently as Vader instructed her on the pros and cons of the different weapons in their weaponry.

"So for long range," she said taking the blaster and weighing it in her hand, "This one is best? But it's so light."

Vader started to reply, but Luke came in with his arms crossed and Leia rolled her eyes.

"Oh prefect. You're having mood swings again," Leia muttered.

"You're one to talk," Luke said to her. "And I want to know what's going on."

"What are you talking about Luke?" Leia asked taking apart the blaster she was holding.

"Oh I don't know Leia. Maybe the fact that you're suddenly best buddies with Darth Vader. Or the fact that Artoo acts like he's known the guy for the last twenty years. Or that you are acting so... accepting of all this and submissive to this guy like he's your master and you're his slave!"

Leia's eyes narrowed at Luke's last comment and though Luke knew it was insensitive, he was beyond caring. Vader knew Luke had hit a nerve by Leia's sudden dark mood and anger and before he could even tell what was about to happen, Leia had crossed the room and slapped Luke across the face.

Luke caught her wrist when she tried to do it a second time, and Leia used her other hand to slam him into the wall.

"You insensitive jerk. Take it back!"

"No," Luke yelled struggling to hold Leia back without hurting her. "Because it's true. Since when do you hide anything from me? And since when can the guy that's been chasing us for three years know about it and I can't."

"Jealous," Leia taunted lifting her knee to gut Luke.

"No, but since when do you give in to someone you barely know so easily?" Luke said grabbing Leia's knee, managing to grab hold of both her wrists, but Leia swept him off his feet, and they both tumbled to the ground.

"You insensitive jerk. I didn't want to say anything because you were hurt and I didn't want you to react badly when you needed to heal," Leia snapped as she and Luke struggled to get the upper hand over each other.

"I've been fine all week."

"No you haven't you hypocrite. If it had been me you would have stood guard at the door with a kriffing blaster set to stun if that's what you had to do to get me to rest," Leia said managing to grab Luke in a head lock.

"Well," Luke choked out. "Since I'm sitting here fighting you," he flipped her over his shoulder causing her to lose her grip on his neck, "Apparently I'm kriffing better! And fyi, I'm your brother. That's what I'm supposed to do."

Suddenly both of them were frozen in place and no matter how much they tried to break out the hold they couldn't move. Vader pulled Luke and Leia apart with the force and for a while the only sound was Vader's respirator as Luke and Leia glared at each other, Leia attempting to flatten her hair and nursing a bump on her forehead, Luke trying to stop the bleeding of his busted lip.

"You mother would be appalled if she saw the way you two are behaving," Vader finally said.

"And you're amused?" Leia snapped.

"Far from. It only reinforces my belief that you are both in need of some serious discipline and a formal education," Vader replied.

"And just who are you to tell us that? Our Dad?" Luke snapped sitting down in a chair.

Vader began to reply but Leia beat him to it.

"Actually he is. That's why I've been all buddy buddy with him. He's our father," she snapped.

"Stop joking around Leia," Luke muttered.

"I'm not," Leia said tiredly. "I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you'd take it, and I didn't want you to hurt yourself or complicate your healing."

"Like you helped me out by attacking me," Luke replied, but without as much malice as before. "And you're kidding right?"

Leia was silent and Luke took that as a bad sign. He looked between Vader and Leia and stood up.

"This is your sick idea of a joke right?"

"I don't joke Luke. Your sister is telling the truth. I am your father," he said.

Luke didn't know what to feel. To be honest he couldn't believe it and so he settled on a feeling that reflected that: Denial.

"You're lying," he said to Vader simply. "And you're tricking Leia into believing it so we'd join you."

"There is no use denying it Luke. Use your feelings. You know it to be true. You are my son," Vader revealed.

Since Luke wasn't quite sure how to react, he turned to Leia who was suspiciously calm about this revelation. When he asked her why, she shrugged.

"The way I see it, our dad could have become a slave master working in league with Jabba the Hutt in the sex trafficking business," Leia replied honestly. "I think he did alright. You said yourself Vader wasn't so bad."

"That's before I knew he was our father," Luke pointed out with his arms crossed and then said rubbing his head, "Are you sure?"

"I'm standing right here," Vader reminded. "And you would do well to simply accept it Luke. The faster you do so, the easier it will be to live with the truth."

Vader left the room and Luke stared where he had been standing before turning to Leia and saying, "I can see where you got your bluntness from."

"I can see where you got your tendency to brush people off from," Leia replied.

Threepio, who was standing in the hallway with Artoo out of any possible crossfire, said, "And I can see where you both got your stubbornness, impulsive natures, and mannerisms from. All three of you are very similar. It's no wonder you're related."

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_In the next chapter, Vader decides it's time to lay down the law in order to discipline his two children, but when Leia throws an uncharacteristic tantrum over all the rules because she thinks he's trying to control her, Luke is forced to tell their father about Leia's less than pleasant past. If that wasn't enough, Vader figures out he can't keep his two restless children (who he sometimes think are five instead of sixteen with all the trouble they seem to find) confined on a ship for very long, especially if he doesn't want the emperor to learn of their existence…_

I did the whole fight between Luke and Leia because my twins sisters have gotten into a disagreement and physically fought and hurt each other, but two minutes later act like nothing happened and it's not just them. I know several sets of twins, fraternal especially and they've all physically fought at one time or another. By the way, I'm going out of town this weekend and we'll be heading back Monday, so I have no idea if I'll update on time or not. I might put it up Sunday, but you all know how much I hate updating on Sundays. Anyway, I'll let you know what I'll do later on this week, but I just though I'd put it out there. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Review please!


	3. The Devestator

I'm sorry this is a day late, but we were coming from out of town from Tampa yesterday. It was only six hours and we left kind of early, but first my sister wanted to use my computer to update her story and then my mother wanted to use the computer and you won't believe what happened… For two hours I thought she was on the computer and she didn't get on at all. She was in the other room talking to my aunt… By that time it was too late, so here's the chapter. Nothing to say except I had an interesting experience writing a couple of the chapter after this because Luke and Leia rebelled on me… Anyway, read, enjoy, and review!

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**Chapter Three**

**The Devestator**

"Luke, Leia," Vader called. The teenagers came to the cockpit from the back of the ship. It amazed Vader immensely how the two could go from being in a fist fight and back to being best friends again in less than twenty minutes, the incident a joke between them. Of course, Luke still seemed a little agitated that Leia hadn't told him the truth earlier, but other than that, it had been a relatively peaceful journey.

As they stood before him, Vader decided that they also needed a lesson on posture.

"You call?" Leia asked since Luke didn't seem to know how to act around Vader yet.

"We will be arriving on the Devastator soon and I feel that there is a need for me to lay down some ground rules that you will follow, despite your inclination to break them," Vader replied. "First of all, I want no one to know about our relationship. If the emperor were to find out he would try to take one or both of you as his own apprentice and try to turn you against me."

"Now he sounds like the real bastard," Leia pointed out.

Vader ignored her comment. "Next, you will behave. I'll not have you running around the Devastator wrecking havoc on the officers or blasting someone when they do something you don't like," he said with a meaningful glace at Leia.

"Don't worry about me," Leia said and nodded her head to Luke. "This is the guy who will choke someone if they threaten me."

"And rest assured, rule or not, if anyone does mess with her, they're dead," Luke assured.

"Then please practice restraint. I will deal with any situation like that should the need arise," Vader warned. "And finally, no alcoholic beverages or any intoxicating substances-."

"Stang" Luke muttered.

"Or inappropriate language in any language," Vader finished.

"As long as no one gives us a reason to use it," Luke and Leia both replied.

Vader was going to pry the secret of their past out of them sooner or later, but for now he had another matter to address. "And now about your education."

Luke frowned. "What education?"

"Your formal education. I'll be hiring a tutor to come live on the Devastator to teach you both privately. When I find a suitable estate for you all to live on, your tutor will act as a teacher and a chaperone along with at least a few dozen storm troopers from my best fleet," Vader said and noticed Luke and Leia were looking at him as though he had lost his mind.

"Did I say something troubling?" he asked.

"A tutor?" Luke asked. "Are you serious?"

"And an estate?" Leia asked

"That's it," Luke said. "We're dropping you off on the Devastator and we're leaving."

"You will do no such thing. I can't have you jeopardizing the safety and security of the empire," Vader replied.

"To be honest, the empire is doing a pretty good job of that without us," Luke muttered. "But seriously a tutor? What do we need a tutor for?"

"How long has it been since you've both had a formal education?" Vader asked.

Leia honestly couldn't remember. She hadn't been to anything resembling school since she was four, but since she didn't think Vader needed to know that yet. So she said simultaneously with Luke, "Three and a half years."

"But we've learned a lot of good stuff on our own," Luke added. "We've seen dozens of cultures and seen plenty of planetary systems. What do we need to go to school for?"

"You all have a worldly education. You know how things are, but do you know why?" Vader asked and their silence proved his point. "You will be required to have four and a half stand hours of schooling every day."

"Every day!" Luke said. "We don't get weekends?"

"You've had more than enough weekends in the last three years to make up for the ones you missed," Vader pointed out.

"How is it that you always outsmart us?" Luke snapped.

"Because you got that smart mouth and your wit from me."

"Kriffing sith lord," Luke muttered.

"Language," Vader warned.

"Forget all that," Leia snapped. "You're going to find us an estate to live on. You mean we'll have to live in one place?"

"I'm glad you were about to read between the lines," Vader replied in a sarcastic tone.

"You mean we can't take the Amidala anywhere," Leia asked.

"No. That ship will remain in a hanger at all times and you all will keep you feet firmly planted on the ground unless I say so."

Then Leia did something that surprised both Luke and Vader. She stomped her foot and shouted, "That's not fair. You can't dictate what I do and when I do it. If I want to go off planet, I'm kriffing going to whether you have anything to say about it or not!"

"You will lower your tone young lady, and you will respect the fact that I am your father," Vader said pointing his finger at her, his temper at the end of its rope.

"As of what? A week ago?" Leia snapped with her hands on her hips.

"Ignorance does not change that fact," Vader said mimicking Leia's posture.

Luke felt their father's mood darken considerably and the anger became much more apparent, but Leia was too caught up in her own anger to notice.

"Leia," Luke said coming to her. "Maybe you should go cool off."

She ignored him as she glared at the sith lord.

"Who gives a care? I'm telling you right now, you're not going to keep me locked up in some estate making me do what you think I need to," Leia shot back finally realizing Vader's anger but not caring as shhe was angry too.

"As prince and princess of the empire, you and Luke will do exactly as I tell you for the betterment of yourselves and prosperity of the galaxy in the future," Vader said finally fed up with the girl's sudden mood swing. "And if you have anything more to say about this there are other ways in which I'm certain I can persuade you."

"Hey," Luke said looking sharply at Vader. "Don't threaten her."

"No!" Leia snapped stepping right up to Vader unafraid of his other ways. "I'd rather live my life as a nomad with no place to go or seen as a kriffing smuggling terrorist pirate than live like a princess jailed in some karked up estate! In fact, I'd kill you first!"

With that Leia turned on her heal and stomped out the cockpit and Vader made to follow her but Luke grabbed his arm surprising him. He turned to look at Luke who had a sorrowful expression as he stared where his sister had gone, as if he understood her outburst.

Luke hesitated a little before deciding he had to tell Vader about Leia before he lost what little patience he had with them. In fact, it was too late for that. Judging by his anger, he had lost all patience.

"Leia's going to kill me for telling you this, but I know why she just threw that tantrum. It's not her fault. She does that sometimes when someone does something that reminds her of her past," Luke said. "You may see it as being a father, but she sees it as something else."

"What are you talking about?"

"Father," Luke said for the first time. "Leia used to be a slave."

The entire universe stopped for Vader with those words. His daughter, his little girl, lived through the horror of slavery? It was unfathomable.

"What?" he finally said stunned.

"I met Leia on Tatooine when we were ten and she was owned by this guy who owned a junk shop," Luke said.

Vader sat down as he experienced déjà vu when Luke spoke.

"She had never really trusted anyone to that point and that's what I meant by us being siblings makes sense. Leia said I felt familiar to her and it's no wonder seeing as we're twins. Anyway by that time, she had been a slave since she was four and didn't have anything from her past but her name and mother's necklace. We were friends for three years and I had planned on getting a job so I could free her. But on my birthday, our birthday, when we turned thirteen, her master almost let some imperial bastard rape her," Luke said and Vader was too buried in his own rage to notice that Luke's eyes had glazed over with an inner darkness an anger that had never gone away from that incident.

"Almost?" Vader said calming down a little at that.

"Yeah. I left earlier because her master suddenly kicked me out, but when the guy came after her, she called me through the force. She managed to hold the guy off and put up a huge struggle until I got there. We didn't know what the force was at that point, but it was when we really kind of discovered we could do a little more than sense other people and read minds and things like that. I fought him and then Leia grabbed his blaster and killed him. Then when her master tried to punish her, I choked him with the force and killed him too. We had to leave before the hutts and the authorities found out and twisted the story so we went to Naboo and you know most of the story after that," Luke replied. "Now do you get why she threw that tantrum?"

Vader nodded.

"Since then she can't stand people telling her what to do and she always has to be the boss. She'll only listen to someone she trusts which is why I can argue with her and she'll be fine. But if she doesn't trust you and she thinks you may try to harm her somehow, she throws a fit similar to what you just saw or for people who can't beat her in an argument, she just puts them down with her mouth and holds up a blaster," Luke added with a small smile.

"She's a lot better now, but she likes having the freedom to travel through space right now. So being 'grounded' is taking her back to slavery when she traveled only when she was being taken to another slave planet. Add in the fact that she's claustrophobic and well…" Luke trailed off sensing Vader got the point.

Vader made a mental note to kill all the hutts, take the outer rim, and declare slavery illegal or there would be serious consequences.

"Don't be upset with her," Luke added. "It took her three years to fully open up to and trust me, and she knew I wasn't going to hurt her after a few weeks. Just give her some time and ease up on the rules a little."

So that's what Leia meant when she said she had met worse people in the galaxy than him, Vader mused. But that still left one question.

"You said it happened when she was four? So who was she with before that?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. She remembered everyone calling her princess and looking at mountains and looking at Naboo and Tatooine in the sky every night. That and she was kidnapped on the way to Naboo for that festival for our mother. She doesn't really care though. "

That story was oddly familiar. It suddenly dawned on Vader who Leia had been with prior to her kidnapping and Vader clenched his fist in ager. Luke, noticing the motion shook his head.

"Father," he began and Vader turned to look at him again. "If you happen to find out who her adoptive parents were, don't punish them for raising Leia and hiding her from you-we think the jedi had more to do with that than anyone-or even her getting kidnapped. Leia admits that it was her fault. She went back to get mom's necklace."

Luke headed to the back to go talk to Leia after that, leaving Vader to brood over what he said. Luke figured he would have now play mediator between Vader, his father, and Leia. Leia would eventually forgive him after the rational part of her took over and realized he didn't mean anything by it.

Luke leaned in the doorway and looked at his sister who was on the bed, staring at the ground with her arms wrapped around herself.

"I doubt he meant anything by it," he said to her.

"I know… part of me does anyway," Leia muttered.

Luke sighed as he sat next to her. "He didn't know. It's not like he was trying to make you feel bad or purposely remind you of your past. How could he have?"

"You told him," Leia stated. "Didn't you?"

Luke hesitated before saying, "I had to. It was only fair that I warned him."

"I can't do this Luke. Maybe we shouldn't stay. Maybe-."

"We're you just the one defending him saying he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the people you've met?" Luke asked raising his eyebrows. "You're just scared. I'm pretty sure he's trying to give us structure, not treat us like slaves. Besides, that'll make all our escapades a little easier if we can learn a little rationale and self control.

Leia laughed, "I'm not the one who needs rationale. You are."

"And I have more self control than you," Luke shot playfully before becoming serious again. "All I'm saying is that no matter how we may feel about it, maybe he deserves a chance and it couldn't hurt us either. It's going to take a minute to get used to the idea of him being our father but I think this can work out for us."

"Always the optimist," Leia said.

"Always the pessimist," Luke replied.

The two felt the lurch that meant they were dropping out of hyperspace and the two ran back to the cockpit to see the Devastator. Luke noticed that Vader was in a strangely contemplative and brooding mood and started to wonder if he should have told Vader about Leia's past. It had felt like the right thing to do at the time and through the force, it still felt like the right thing.

"I'd love to get my hands on the controls of that," Luke said in wonder.

"Stay away from the bridge," Vader replied.

"Too late. That wasn't part of the original deal," Luke said with a smug smile.

"And I am altering it. If you have any problems with it feel free to meditate on the matter," Vader said steering the _Amidala_ to the star destroyer.

When the ship was docked, Luke and Leia waited for Vader to lead them. He let the ramp down and started down the ship before turning to the two.

"I hope you're not going to just stand there," he said.

Leia rolled her eyes. "Well excuse us father," she said. "But the last time we were on a Star Destroyer, the commander flirted with me and made a threat to my honor, hit Luke upside the head with a blaster, threw us in a cell, and told his lieutenant to skin a wookiee alive."

"Believe me, if anyone on this ship knows what's good for them, they will do well to leave you both alone," Vader said.

It was hard to gauge Vader's tones through his voice box since it didn't really take into account tones, but one thing Luke and Leia could recognize was anger. Vader's deep voice got deeper and colder and he stiffened in a way that said he was trying to restrain himself… Well, the twins didn't think Vader practiced restraint-unless he was dealing with them- so it was probably Vader gathering all his anger in a deadly force that was going to be unleashed on someone.

Luke, Leia, Threepio, and Artoo followed Vader down the ramp where he was met by the commander of the ship along with troops and officers for security.

"Lord Vader," the commander said. "Good to have you back after your impromptu departure." He eyed Luke and Leia. "Are these two your prisoners sir? Would you like for us to escort them to detention?"

"I will deal with them myself Commander. As you were. Back to your post," Vader said dismissing the officers and swiftly walking past them. Luke and Leia followed behind him without hesitation. The few times they had been in the company of imperial officers hadn't been good times.

Luke marveled at the large ship. The last time he had been on a star destroyer, he didn't have time to marvel at the construction and magnificence of a ship that was pretty much a small town in the sky.

"You should see the Super Star Destroyers the emperor is having built," Vader said.

"Stop reading my thoughts," Luke said a little annoyed but still curious about the Super Star Destroyers.

"I'm not," Vader said simply continuing down the halls. He finally stopped at two doors and used the force to open them both. "These two rooms will have to suffice as your quarters until we can find a more suitable place for you to stay. They both have personal bathrooms so you can clean up if you wish. If there is anything you need, speak into the request com. I have some business to attend to."

"What are we supposed to do if you're attending to business?" Luke asked.

"You are to stay in your provided quarters and avoid getting into trouble. Is that understood?"

"Yeah, yeah," Luke grumbled. "Leave us here bored out of our minds."

"I'm sure you've both had enough excitement in the last three years to last you a life time," Vader pointed out.

"We can never have too much excitement," Luke said with a grin. "Keeps us lively."

"As if you aren't lively enough as it is."

"Can we access the holonet in that case?" Leia asked and then sensed Vader's suspicion. "Don't worry. I won't try to hack into your systems or anything. I only want to download something to read."

"Very well then. I will return shortly," Vader said and left them to their rooms.

Leia closed the other door and went into Luke's room with him.

"Are you two sure he's your father Master Luke and Miss Leia?" Threepio asked.

"I guess," Luke said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because despite his dark mood he's so well mannered and proper. You and Miss Leia could surely learn a lot about etiquette from him."

Artoo made a dry response and headed to plug himself into the computer. Luke and Leia sat on the bed and looked around. It was a pretty decent sized room, but it lacked the magnificence of the rooms in the palace on Naboo.

"So you mean to tell us he left us here with nothing to do when we're used to flying the galaxy and doing things all day long? We don't even have a holovision," Leia said as she began to look through the provided drawers.

"Well it's not like he was expecting us Leia," Luke replied logging onto the holonet. "Besides, what do we need a holovision for when we can watch stuff on the web?"

"When did you suddenly become so defensive of dear old dad?" Leia asked dryly.

"When did you get into such a shitty mood about it?"

Leia didn't reply as she looked in the fresher. Luke rolled his eyes.

"You're just scared of actually having a place to stay because you're afraid it'll be like slavery. Just because he doesn't want us to leave when he finds us somewhere doesn't mean he'll put some kind of tracer on us or punish us if we leave. This is something completely different and you're looking for an excuse to leave," Luke accused.

"I am not. I just think-."

"Bantha pooda," Luke shot. "I'm not going to sit here and listen to you try to make your fear sound like actual reason. We're here now because you got us into this and we're staying unless Vader does something to justify your sudden irrational fear!"

Leia sighed. Once Luke declared something and didn't want to hear her argue, there was no arguing with him about it. Vader was like that, she remembered. Maybe that was where Luke got it from.

"Now that that's settled," Luke said logging off the computer. "Let's get out of here and find something to do."

"But Vader said-."

"He said stay out of trouble and we're not going to get in trouble. We're just exploring our new surroundings. He can't blame us," Luke said and Leia grinned as she put her belt back on and hooked her blaster.

"What are you taking those for?" Luke asked.

"Habit," said Leia following him towards the door.

"Wait Master Luke! Your father specifically instructed that you stay here, and as well mannered as he is, I don't think it would be wise to anger him."

"Who cares if he gets angry? Besides since when have we ever completely obeyed anyone who told us what to do? He should be expecting this. And anyway, we're not disobeying him. He told us to stay in here and we did so now, we're leaving," Luke said as Artoo followed behind him, eager to get out the room and do something entertaining.

"Oh… One would think their father would at least be able to get a hold on them," Threepio said following Luke and Leia.

"So where do we go first," Luke muttered.

"Why don't we figure where we can't go first?" Leia asked. "We can scratch off the bridge. Vader will probably be there."

"We could always go to the hanger," Luke suggested in excitement.

"We just came from there. Besides, I don't like ships the way you do… What about a weaponry? I bet they have that," Leia muttered.

"And I'm not nearly as interested in weapons as you are. But I've got an idea," Luke said and turned to Artoo. "Plug into the system Artoo and see if you can find somewhere for us to mess around."

Artoo plugged into the terminal and slowly began to go down a list of rooms he thought Luke and Leia would find interesting.

"What's he saying? He's going too fast for me to catch it," Leia replied.

"He said the kitchens… Well detour there later. The hanger, Vader's quarters, a training room with simulations and real galactic situations…Sounds cool. And they do have a weaponry. Maybe we can split up later Leia," Luke suggested.

"Well it looks like our best bet would be the training room. I could use a good adventure, even if it is fake," Leia said with a shrug.

"I think that's one of the qualifications for trouble Master Luke," Threepio pointed out.

Luke swore under his breath. "Threepio's right. So I guess this is a tossup between Vader's quarters and the kitchens."

"Well since Vader could be in his quarters, I guess we're going to the kitchens," Leia replied.

"Better than being in that room," said Luke as they got the directions and headed to the kitchen.

There were only droids in the kitchens when they got there and when the droids tried to prevent them from coming in, Leia simply shut them down with a wave of her hand and began rummaging through the large walk in freezer.

"A lot more than I expected from a space shuttle. I though rations would we practically littering this place," Leia said. "Want some ice cream?"

"Sure," Luke said. "How about some stew?"

Leia smiled. "That sounds good. Reminds me of when we were back on Tatooine."

"You have fond memories of that place?" Luke asked feeling her slight contentment.

"Not like that… It just reminded me of a simpler time when you were all but vowing to marry me one day," Leia said with a smile.

Luke scowled and turned red. "I wasn't that bad."

"Oh come on," Leia said coming out the freezer and leaning on the large stainless steel counters. "You can't tell me it never once crossed your mind at all."

"So what if it did? But it's not like it matters now. You're my sister," Luke reminded in hopes that Leia would stop her teasing.

"So you admit. You did have a crush on me!" Leia said with a smirk.

"Yeah… Wait a minute. Leia stop it. You can flirt with whoever you want to, but not with me anymore remember?" Luke scolded and then added. "Wait… Not anyone."

Leia only smiled. "Old habits die hard Luke. Besides, I never meant anything by it before and still don't."

"Still. It was uncomfortable before. Now it's weird because we're twins," Luke said rummaging through the pantry and shelves. "Well what do you know?"

"What?" Leia asked looking up from the ice cream that she was eating out of.

Luke turned around with some type of alcoholic beverage in his hands and Leia frowned.

"Vader's going to kill us if we open that," Leia pointed out. "We can always sneak back into our room, but you can smell that stuff."

"Who cares what Vader thinks? We've been taking care of ourselves for three years. I hardly think he has the right to come in and decide to change that because he's our long lost father," Luke mumbled.

Leia looked at Luke curiously for a moment and then pinpointed an emotion Luke was trying to hide under his somewhat acceptance of the situation.

"You're disappointed aren't you?" she asked.

Luke stopped pouring the drink and looked at Leia.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Leia said sucking the ice cream off her spoon like it was a lollipop, "that you're upset he's not really Anakin Skywalker anymore."

"What makes you say that?" Luke asked trying not to feel caught but he knew by now it was pointless. Leia could read him like an open book and vise verse.

"You don't drink," Leia said putting her hand on the bottle Luke had. "You only do it when something has really disturbed your psyche. I know you had your heart set on your dad being this jedi hero and not the one that took them out, but Vader's not as evil as he seems. You even admitted that much."

"You don't understand Leia," Luke replied. "My aunt and uncle told me he was a navigator, then I find out that was a lie and he was a jedi which was ten times better than a navigator any day. Then I find out he took out the jedi and became someone who most of the galaxy sees as a monster and I don't know whether I should be glad he's alive or wish he was still dead to me."

"Don't say that Luke," Leia muttered.

"Say what?"

"Don't wish he was dead. I don't really care what he did, but he saved your life and that alone is enough for me to turn a blind eye to his sins. But when I found out… I don't know. You had your aunt and uncle and I had you, but it's nothing like finding out there's someone else out there with your blood running through their veins," Leia muttered. "So maybe he's not the hero we all want our parents to be, but if it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here."

"It amazes me how calm you can be about some things," Luke said to her.

Leia shrugged. "We can't choose our family Luke, but we can embrace the one we have."

"And to think you were just fretting about feeling like a slave again," Luke teased.

"Oh I still am, but it's not Vader's fault. I just don't like when people tell me what to do is all. I don't really have anything against him," Leia replied.

Luke looked at her and shook his head as he sipped on his drink. He swore she was bipolar or something.

"What are you two doing in here?"

Luke and Leia turned to see two storm troopers come into the kitchen. They looked at the deactivated droids and then at each other before remembering that so long as no one knew they were on the ship they were seen as intruders.

"Oh please sir!" Threepio said putting his hands up. Artoo whistled in exasperation. "Don't shoot. We're innocent."

Leia rolled her eyes at the droid as Luke began to explain.

"Look. We're with Vader. He knows we're here," said Luke before they decided to start shooting.

"A likely story," one of them said as they came to arrest them.

"But it's true," Leia said. "If you don't believe us, take us to Vader and he'll tell you."

"You two sure you want to do that?"

"Even if we were telling a lie, we wouldn't be intimidated by Vader…" Luke said trailing off.

_Not much anyway,_ Leia sent.

"Well then let's go see what he says," the trooper said grabbing Leia by the arm while the other grabbed Luke.

Leia started to snatch out his grip but Luke sent, _Just relax Leia. The most trouble we'll get into is about disobeying Vader. It's fine. If we fight they'll think we're lying._

Leia didn't struggle as they guided her out the room, but that didn't at all mean she was happy about it, especially when she realized she had dropped her necklace.

"Wait a minute," she said snatching her arm out the storm trooper's grip. "My necklace. Artoo, Threepio did you see me drop it?

The two droids shook their head from where they were following and Leia started to go back to the kitchen.

"Leia," Luke said turning around to glance at her.

"Alright, hold it right there," the trooper said pointing his blaster at Leia.

"Watch where you're point that thing," Leia snapped using the force to take it from him. The storm trooper tried to subdue her but Luke grabbed him.

"She's not doing anything," he said.

"Hey kid," the storm trooper behind him said pointing his blaster in Luke's side.

Luke elbowed him in his helmet and took the blaster.

"We need back up," the other trooper said.

"No you don't," Leia said stunned the man with the blaster in her hand. "We told you, Vader knows we're-." she stopped and looked down the hall. Luke did the same and they both jumped as five or six storm troopers turned the corner.

"I don't think they care what we say since they won't believe us. Looks like they're going to shoot first and ask question later" Luke said starting to push Leia along. "Run!"

Leia didn't have to be told twice as she took off down the hall managing a few shots at the troopers chasing after them.

"Master Luke. Miss Leia! Wait for us," Threepio yelled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Vader was reading the report for the growing rebel uprising, he felt a distinct disturbance in the force unlike any disturbance he had ever felt. It wasn't like the feelings of danger or the force leading him on a mission, but it was akin to an annoyance that had presented itself and needed to be dealt with… Something like the disturbances he felt when Luke and Leia had been wrecking havoc on the empire, but with the knowledge that they were his children, it wasn't as threatening anymore. He put the report down and left his quarters to go check on them. Something told him he should have known better than to leave the two alone with nothing to do in an unsecured area.

He made his way to their temporary quarters and was unsurprised to find that the two weren't there and neither were Artoo and Threepio. No doubt Artoo had gone with them for the fun of it and Threepio had followed for the sake of trying to keep them out of trouble. As he turned to go down the hall his eyes caught sight of something on the ground. He called it to him with the force and saw it was Padmé's, now Leia's technically, necklace. No doubt she had dropped it without noticing.

Vader started down the halls and began to reach out to find where the children were until he noticed troopers running down the adjacent hall to take care of a breach in security. Vader paused. No doubt the breach in security was Luke and Leia. Only they could cause such a mishap when he had only left them alone for not even an hour. He followed the troops down to the hanger and Vader might have been mildly amused and highly impressed by the scene if it weren't for the fact that he was slightly angry with Luke and Leia for getting themselves into this situation. At least two dozen troopers surrounded the two, but the twins weren't intimidated as they stood back to back with a blaster in each hand glaring at the troopers and, from the thoughts Vader was picking up, mentally communicating with each other over the plan of action they were going to take.

Just as Leia raised her blaster to make the first shot, Vader made his presence known.

"Everyone stand down," he commanded. At hearing the voice of Vader, the troopers lowered their weapons. Luke and Leia turned to look at Vader.

"Oh thank the maker!" Threepio said in relief.

"What is the meaning of this?" Vader asked.

The highest ranking trooper began to reply, but then noticed that Vader wasn't looking at the troopers. He was looking at the two children they assumed were intruders.

"It wasn't our fault," Leia snapped. "Stupid troopers didn't believe us when we said we weren't intruding and they were taking us to you, but I dropped my necklace and when I tried to go back and find it, they thought we were trying to escape."

"Somehow, I doubt this wasn't your fault," Vader replied and then addressed the troops. "You man return to your posts now. I will take this from here."

The troopers left and Luke and Leia finally lowered their weapons. Vader almost sighed. He could command an entire fleet but Luke and Leia were proving to be more difficult, and it had only been a little more than a week since he found them.

"Which one of you are going to explain why you deliberately disobeyed me when I instructed you not to leave your room?"

Luke and Leia exchanged a quick look before Luke said, "You really expected us not to?"

"I apologize. I was under the impression that you were both sixteen, not five," Vader said in an obvious sarcastic tone.

"And we were under the impression that you were our father, not our jailer," Leia shot back.

Vader's continued his anger apparent and both Luke and Leia took a cautionary step back, "I was going to let you all get some rest before I started your routine. But since it seems I underestimated just how undisciplined you both are in addition to the fact that you both seem to have enough energy to get in trouble. Your training begins now."

"Training?" Luke asked as Vader turned on his heel and began to walk away expecting them to follow him. "What training?"

"Your force training," Vader said.

Vader felt Luke's presence brighten considerably and Leia remained ever passive about the situation. She was always the suspicious one, a bit wary and he wondered if she got it from him or her life of being a slave.

"Finally. Me and Leia have been trying to learn more about the force for years and no one has been able to show us," said Luke.

Vader led them to the training room that Artoo had told them about before and stood in the center of the room before turning to his children, who lingered near the doorway.

"You will put all your weapons away. You must learn to rely wholeheartedly on the force," Vader instructed.

Luke and Leia put down their blaster and then took off their weapons belts. Leia reached under her pant leg and pulled out a knife and another blaster before crossing over to the center of the room to Vader with Luke.

"Before we begin," Vader said turning to Leia with her necklace in hand. "I believe you were looking for this."

Leia clapped her hands together in relief and took the necklace from Vader.

"It appears the clasp is faulty and needs to be replaced. You shouldn't wear it again until you can find a suitable replacement unless you want to lose it again," Vader warned.

Leia secured the necklace in her pocket and Vader proceeded to begin his lesson.

"You are both very talented in the force, but I have observed that though you are powerful, you cannot properly control you powers unless you are under a stressful situation. You both must learn constant control and we will start by doing simple force exercises that will require complete concentration and self restraint, a trait both of you are lacking in," Vader pointed out.

"And you actually practice self restraint?" Leia asked Vader.

She made a point. Vader gave her that much, but he wasn't going to let her know that. Instead he gave her a warning look and clenched his fist. Leia got the point.

Vader was about to show them an exercise until Luke looked down thoughtfully for a moment before asking, "What exactly is the force?"

"You don't know?"

"Well we can use it, but we don't exactly know what it is."

"You both have much to learn in that case. The force is-." Vader stopped and looked at Luke. He pointed his finger at him and said, "I hope I don't smell alcohol on your breath."

_How much did you drink? _Leia sent to her brother.

_You saw me. It was maybe half a cup. The troopers found us by then, _Luke replied.

"Your silence tells me everything I need to know," Vader replied, "And there will be serious consequences for them."

Having faced armies, fatal assassins, and even bounty hunters over the last few years, any consequence their father could throw at them didn't intimidate the two to be honest. Vader himself might have intimidated them before they found out he was their father, and Vader was beginning to regret the fact that he ever told Leia at all. He should have just kept it to himself.

He didn't want them to fear him like Padmé had feared him on Mustafar before she died. Vader had seen the terror in her eyes when he lost control and choked her as a means to try and get her to submit to him, and it was only her memory that caused him to practice as much restraint as he was practicing then. He could smack Leia in the mouth (force knew she was practically asking for it), or warn Luke with a little application of pressure to his neck, but then they would certainly run away from him.

As the two teens looked at him as though daring him to try and punish them, Vader desperately wished Padmé were at his side with her arms crossed in disapproval glaring at the two. She would have surely set them straight without physical violence. He sighed, something he never did. His children had a long way to go…

Over the next few days, Luke and Leia proved to be less troublesome as Vader gave them something to do and neither of them had snuck back to the kitchens, or anywhere else on the ship for that matter, again as they were usually occupied with some kind of force exercise. They reminded him a lot of himself when he was younger. Sometimes he felt like the two teens acted more like five year olds than the sixteen year olds they were as he couldn't leave them with nothing to do less they go find something to do. Normally, that wasn't a problem for most sixteen year olds, but for Skywalkers finding something to do usually meant finding trouble. However, Vader finally came up with a suitable punishment after a few days: meditation. It was something neither child enjoyed very much, particularly Leia.

It worked as suitable way to keep them from using vulgar language and causing trouble. But not only that, the extra meditation helped to build up their mental shields by blocking all thoughts from their mind. Soon they would be untraceable to any force sensitive except the people they wanted to find them. Hopefully the meditation would also work as a suitable punishment if they gave their new tutor trouble too… when he found one that he thought would be competent enough to handle them.

Meanwhile Luke and Leia were both trying to knock out their many hours of meditating that was punishment for their less than pleasing behavior. That being the habit of swearing that they had picked up over the last three years. It had been necessary on the backwater planets they used to travel on all the time and then they met Han and he made the habit worse (though they were nowhere near as bad as Han was). Judging by the fact that Leia had racked up three hours of meditation (thirty minutes for every time one came out her mouth) and Luke two, it was proving a hard habit to break.

"Alright," Leia said abandoning her meditation after an hour. "I'm done."

"Must you be so difficult? Meditating isn't that bad. Besides, it's helping with our shields so the emperor won't find us," Luke replied with his eyes still closed.

"My shields are fine, better than yours at the very least and I'm not being difficult, but being on this ship is driving me nuts. I need some open space. I need to know that I can go where I feel like it," Leia replied.

"Still not used to having someone to answer to huh?" Luke asked smiling. "It is weird. Maybe Vader will let us take the Amidala somewhere if we ask nicely."

Leia looked at him dryly and responded, "Maybe the emperor won't try to kill us if he finds out what Vader is planning for us."

"Point," Luke said finally standing up. "But it won't hurt to try."

"Always the optimist."

"Always the pessimist."

Luke opened the door and cursed when he saw Vader standing in the doorway.

"That will be another thirty minutes of meditation for you, son," Vader said.

"As if you were a saint when you were sixteen," he muttered as he stepped aside to let Vader in.

"It appears I was just in time to intercept whatever no doubt trouble inducing idea you had," Vader commented.

Leia groaned loudly and crossed her arms. "Well it's not our fault. What do you expect when we're used to going wherever we want to go and you're keeping us locked up on this ship for force's sake."

"Yeah," Luke added. "You can't keep us here forever. We'll leave again if that's your plan. We don't need you to take care of us."

"And I'll surely find you again," Vader warned. "But perhaps it is a good thing that I'm here to inform you about that very thing."

"You mean you're here to tell us what we're going to do whether we like it or not," Leia muttered and Luke looked at his sister.

"Just hear him out Leia. He's not Meyrin," he reminded.

Leia rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch next to Luke while Vader stood over them.

"I think I have found a suitable place for you all to inhabit and finish up your education and force training until we can come up with a suitable plan to destroy the emperor," Vader began.

"I hope your definition of suitable isn't some backwater planet where no one will dare search for us on some big dark estate with a whole bunch of security to keep us from leaving," Leia snapped. "Because if that's your idea I won't-."

"Leia would you let him finish," Luke asked rolling her eyes. "I swear. You should go become a politician."

"She is very outspoken and argumentative like her mother to get her point heard. She has the fine qualities of a future empress," Vader commented.

"Mom was that good?" Leia asked.

"Oh I didn't tell you?" Luke asked. "Padmé Amidala was our mother."

Leia blinked. "You're kidding."

"It shouldn't be too hard to believe. You look just like her," Luke pointed out.

"Why could you tell him who our mother was, but couldn't tell me?" Leia said hotly.

"I didn't," Vader responded trying to remain calm and failing miserably. Leia constantly tested his nerves. Luke did too, but in other ways. He was more defiant through his actions. "Luke figured it out on his own."

Leia set her jaw in displeasure still but said nothing else about it after she sensed her father's temper spiking.

Luke shook his head and then said dryly. "Don't mind her father. Being confined is having an effect on her, plus it's about _that_ time."

Leia slapped Luke on the leg. "He didn't need to know all that!" she said fighting down a blush.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about. It's entirely natural. I've know about it for years. I can't help but know about it. We have a bond remember?"

Vader would never admit it- he'd admit he was wrong about something before he admitted this to anyone-but it was comical how Luke and Leia interacted with one another. He had witnessed them fight, argue and get on each other's nerve, but it only strengthened their relationship with each other. At the end of the day, they were best friends and in the morning he would always find Leia asleep in Luke's bed the next morning, even though it had disturbed him a little when he first found them sleeping in a bed together, completely content (Luke later told him that Leia had nightmares and rarely if ever slept by herself). The type of bond they had was rare even for force twins. They really were each other's rock and soul, but it never exceeded the limits of a sibling relationship. Thankfully, Vader added to himself.

"You two can discuss that matter later," Vader said stopping their conversation. "But no Leia. It is not that kind of place. In fact, I think you'll be safer in a more obvious location."

"Where?" the two asked.

"On your mother's home planet, Naboo."

Leia's face lit up and she began to bounce up and down in excitement. "You're serious!"

Vader nodded.

"We have a warrant on Naboo though," Luke pointed out. "We stole a ship from the royal palace."

"A ship that should have been your inheritance to begin with," Vader replied. "Besides, the Naboo aren't know to hold petty things like that. It's likely that they have forgotten the incident occurred. Also, the emperor wouldn't dare think I'd hide you on his home planet. It would be stupid."

"Where will we be staying?" Luke asked.

Vader took out a datapad and handed it to them. "I am going to give you specific instructions on where to go and how to get there. You mother's family will be waiting for you. Don't worry about anyone seeing the _Amidala. _You will be landing in a secluded area where no will see it. Besides, the Naberrie family are very wealthy and surely they can explain having a rare Royal Naboo Star Skiff. It's personalized enough that local authorities won't figure out that it was your mother's."

"Are you sure you want to send us somewhere so obvious? I mean if anyone is looking for us-."

"They won't think to look there because it is so obvious," Vader interrupted. "Now you will both get ready to leave immediately. And no detours. I have installed your ship with a tracker should you get any ideas. And no Luke. You, nor Artoo, will ever find it."

"That's not fair," Luke whined.

"I'm your father. I don't have to be fair."

"You're Darth Vader. You aren't fair," Leia butted in.

"…Besides," Vader continued with a certain rumble to his voice trying to remember that this was a very delicate situation he was dealing with and the two would not stand being intimidated if they were anything like their mother and father. "Naboo has the one of the best and most efficient educational systems in the galaxy."

"That makes this arrangement so much better," Luke muttered.

"Be grateful I didn't send you to my private and exclusive estate on Vjun," Vader warned.

Luke wisely closed his mouth. Being on Naboo was far better than the Devastator, but he enjoyed flying through space. Sensing this, Vader decided to add one more thing.

"Should you both behave on Naboo and finish your studies, I have something in mind for you to do that will help speed up our plan to take over the empire. Considering your past exploits, I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Luke and Leia leaned up in anticipation. "What is it?"

"I'm not telling you yet. First, we must get you both ready to leave for Naboo. You'll be leaving in a few hours."

"So soon?"

"You must before word of your arrival gets to one of Palpatine's spies," Vader said gravely.

Leia rushed into the bathroom to get ready, happy that she was finally going to get of the Star Destroyer. Luke started to go to his bedroom and then stopped as he looked at Vader.

"You have something you want to say son?" Vader asked and Luke smiled.

"I… Thanks father," he finally decided. "This will mean a lot to Leia. She's never really had anything resembling a normal life and thanks for not locking us up in some estate."

Vader was silent, not quite sure what to say before saying, "I know how Leia feels, and it's a very unpleasant feeling. Being under someone else's control and restricted in the things you can do, the places you can go… I don't want her to feel that way."

Luke frowned. Vader spoke as though he knew about slave life and then it dawned on Luke.

"You were a slave too?" he asked.

Vader didn't reply, only turned to leave the room, but Luke didn't need him to. The force said it all.

Three hours later, Luke and Leia had cleaned up, including rinsing the dye out of their hair, ready to board their ship to Naboo. Vader was stunned by how much Luke looked like him in his youth. His now blonde hair made it obvious now and the only thing that set Leia apart from her mother was the lingering streak of sun bleached hair on the right side of her head.

"You understand your instructions perfectly correct?"

"Yes father," Luke said annoyed. "Could you please talk to us like we're you children and not like officers in your command?"

Vader ignored his request.

"Be careful and head straight for Naboo."

"We go it," Leia muttered messing with the bun at the back of her head again.

The two boarded the ship with Artoo and Threepio and a few minutes later, they took off into space, headed for Naboo.

Vader stared after them, unable to ignore the nagging feeling that he should have gone with them. He had a feeling something was going to intercept their trip before they got to Naboo but dismissed it. That was what tracking devices were for and not even a trained jedi would be able to disable it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

_In the next chapter, on their way to Naboo, Luke and Leia make an accidental detour and crash land on Dagobah where Obi-wan and Yoda, two jedi, are conveniently waiting on them. Leia adamantly refuses to be trained citing that other than what they've researched they know nothing about the jedi. But Luke as impulsive as ever convinces her to give it a shot and Leia only gives in but only because she can't give outgoing calls to contact Vader and their ship is stuck. But when Luke realizes that is he's to become a jedi he has to let go of all attachments, including his attachment to Leia, he begins to have second thoughts about the jedi…_

I tell you. I feel like I'm rushing these chapters, but I'm not because while I know it's necessary to get things established with Luke, Leia, and their family, I did not want this to become a family oriented story and so I do kind of rush through it a little, to me. Anyway, sorry for the late update. Hope you enjoyed. Review please!


	4. The Jedi

I'm so damn frustrated right now. I found a website where I could publish some of my work virtually free in ebook form. You know I want to test the waters and I hear some writers have had success on the site. But for Amazon and the ibook store to take it, I have to switch the story to epub form… I want to do it on my own, but can't figure out how (I downloaded a thing that is supposed to do it for me, but rejected the file) and I seriously don't have the money to pay for to do it for me so I'm stuck right now… Anyway, that's why I'm just not putting this up so late in the day. Not much to say. I'm just so damn frustrated right now. Ugh! If anyone knows how to do this, I'd appreciate step by step directions.

Anywho, read, enjoy, and review while I go see if I can figure this epub thing out…

xxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter Four**

**The Jedi  
**

"Reckless you were. Consulted me before you acted and maybe gotten the children, we would have."

Obi-Wan sighed. "With all due respect Master Yoda-."

Yoda hit Obi-Wan in the leg with him jammer stick and Obi-Wan winced suddenly feeling like he was a youngling being admonished by the old jedi again.

"Too late for respect it is. In Vader's grasp, the Skywalker twins are. Doomed the galaxy is if find them we do not," Yoda said heading out his hut to meditate.

Obi-wan got up to follow Yoda, hitting his head on the ceiling of the small hut in the process. He sighed and continued out.

"But master, we wrong about separating the twins. They needed each other. I saw that much when I saw them on Alderaan. Maybe we're wrong about this too. Maybe Vader needs the twins to help bring him out of the darkness. Maybe Padmé was right," Obi-Wan said.

"Let the fate of the galaxy rest on something that is so uncertain, we cannot. The children, we must find. Come to us, they will," Yoda said sitting on the ground in a meditative state.

"Master Yoda, I don't think you want them _both_ here," Obi-Wan warned. He knew of the havoc they wrecked in the galaxy together. The two were fearless and a nine hundred year old jedi wasn't going to intimidate them.

Yoda picked up on his thoughts and scoffed. "Humble, they are not. The qualities of a jedi they do not have. Impatient they are. Reckless they are. Just like their father…"

"You can't blame them for something they were never taught," Obi-wan pointed out. "Their sixteen and they've been taking care of themselves for three and a half years. Arrogance, recklessness, and impatience have kept them alive all these years."

"Hmp," Yoda said ignoring Obi-wan. "If come to me before acted had you, taught them those things a long time ago I could have."

Obi-wan fought back a smile. Being on this planet in isolation had gone to Yoda's head.

"Mm… On their way they are. Be here soon, they will be," Yoda said confidently.

"How is that?" Obi-wan asked.

"Trust me you must. Be here soon they will be. I am certain."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"It's weird going back to Naboo again. I thought we would never go there again… At least not so soon. I thought we would be thirty and finally retiring before we went back there," Leia pointed out.

"Thirty?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Leia said looking up from what she was writing. "It was either Alderaan or Naboo. I wanted to live there. I feel connected to those two planets. I felt connected to Tatooine too, even though I hated it."

"I never want to go back to Tatooine again," Luke muttered.

"What about your aunt and uncle?" Leia asked and then corrected, "Our aunt and uncle."

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sure I could ever face them again after I ran off like that. I hope they don't think I hated them or something. I didn't want to leave them. You were just more important to me. I used to feel bad about that you know?"

"Why?" Leia asked not quite understanding since she had never really had a family aside from Luke.

"Because they raised me. They took me in probably knowing what our father had become-not that he's that bad," Luke added at Leia's glare. It amazed him how she could be mad at him for being controlling, but come to his defense. "But anyway, they took me in despite who our father was and raised me like it didn't matter. Any lesser people would have abused me or looked down at me or something, but they took care of me even though I was nothing but trouble most of the time."

"You weren't trouble. Sure you got into things, but you were always nice," Leia said.

"I know, but I always felt bad I abandoned them even though I never regretted running off with you," Luke replied.

"Maybe we can go visit them then. I'm sure they'll understand."

Luke started to reply when the ship suddenly lurched. Luke and Leia fell over in surprise while Threepio cried out and Artoo whistled loudly.

"What just happened?" Leia asked getting up from where she fell.

"I don't know," Luke said getting up and running to the cockpit where Artoo already was speaking frantically. "Wait a minute Artoo. Slow down. What just happened?"

Artoo slowed down and repeated himself.

"We've changed course. How is that even possible? I didn't change the coordinates," Luke replied.

Artoo said something else and then said.

"Someone must have done it earlier because we've already dropped out of hyperspace? That's impossible."

"Luke," Leia said looking at the computer navigator. "What's Dagobah?"

"Dagobah?" Luke asked heading over to the controls. "I've never heard of it."

"Well that's where we are," Leia said and then looked out the visor. "There it is."

"I'm not picking up any cities or anything down there. It looks like it's just a swamp planet," Luke replied taking the controls.

Leia shook her head. "Someone's there Luke. This is all too weird to just be a coincidence. We need to get out of here and contact dad."

"Too late," Luke replied squinting his eyes. "I can't see in all this fog. We'll have to land first."

"Master Luke," Threepio said. "I can't see anything. Are you sure this place is safe for droids?"

"Don't know if it's safe for humans, but we're about to find out," Luke said to him and tapping into the force so they could land properly.

They landed with a thud, and heard the sound of trees and branches crushing underneath the ship.

"What was that?" Leia asked running to let down the ramp and step off the ship. The girl stepped on what she thought was land until her boot sank into the murky swamp. "You've got to be kidding me?"

Leia began to wade to the coast and the droids followed her.

"Be careful Artoo. This swamp is pretty deep," Leia said struggling through the waters.

"Oh my," Threepio said as he went through the swamp. "Can't we just leave for once? Must we explore?"

"In a minute," Luke said letting up the ramp so nothing would get in the ship.

Artoo made a response.

"You actually agree with Threepio. That's new," Luke said dryly as he helped Artoo to the coast.

When they were there Luke turned around to inspect the ship and cursed.

"Aw man. You've got to be kidding. Look at all those scratches and the paint. Do you know how much it'll cost for me to fix that?" Luke asked walking back into the swamp.

Leia reached out to grab him before he got too far. "Luke wait!"

But it was too late. Something grabbed Luke but the ankle and tried to pull him under but Leia managed to grab hold of Luke. She pulled against the tentacle that had him.

"Pull harder Leia," Luke urged trying to kick whatever it was off.

"I'm trying. This wouldn't have happened at all if you had listened to me," Leia snapped.

"I was trying to get back to the ship. Don't blame this on me," Luke said as he reached for something to hit the monster with. "Your blaster!"

Leia reached for her blaster which was hidden under her shirt and aimed a few random shots at the creature. It whined and pulled its tentacle away and both Luke and Leia fell back into the muddy water.

"You alright?" Leia asked panting.

"Yeah, but I'm never going to say anything about you carrying that blaster around everywhere again," Luke said as he massaged his ankle. The sound of something cracking and giving way got Luke and Leia's attention, and they both looked up to see the Amidala sinking sideways into the murky swamp water.

"Stang," Leia muttered.

"Oh come on," Luke said getting up. "Do you know how long it's going to take me to clean up the Amidala now?"

Leia rolled her eyes. "Really Luke. Who cares about that? We're stranded."

"To be honest I don't care that we're stranded because we're not stranded. Vader put a tracker on the ship. He'll come find us," Luke assured.

"I'm not too sure about that," Leia replied as she messed with her comlink. "I'm not getting a com. signal."

"Vader's going to try to kill us," Luke muttered standing up.

"It wasn't our fault," Leia said plopping down on the ground. "Think we can get in the ship to at least get supplies?"

"Yeah," Luke said. "But I sense something. Let's look into it first."

Leia nodded and they headed into the thick forest. Artoo rolled ahead and blocked their way frantically trying to get them to stop.

"What other choice do we have Artoo? The ship's stuck. You and Threepio just stay here," Leia said as she moved Artoo aside and continued into the forest. Then she stopped when she heard something roar. Her hand went to her blaster and Luke groaned.

"I hope this won't be a repeat of the akul," Luke said pulling out his own blaster and looking around as they continued slowly into the forest to where they came upon a small clearing.

"I sense something," Leia whispered.

"Me too," Luke muttered. "I feel… I feel like-."

"Feel like what?"

Both Luke and Leia whirled around with blasters raised at the creature behind them.

"Like we're being watched," Luke said irritated.

The little toad-like creature shook his head. "Away with your weapons, young Skywalkers. No harm do I mean you."

"How do you know our names?" Leia asked not lowering hers for a second.

The creature shook his head and simply walked past them. "Reckless you are. Long way in your training you have to go."

"Training?" Luke and Leia said and then rushed after the creature.

"What are you talking?" Leia asked.

"Follow me and you will see," he assured them.

"What do you think?" Luke asked.

"You already know what I think," Leia said to him. "But I don't sense anything from him, nothing dangerous anyway."

"Me neither," Luke said and then shrugged. "It can't hurt to follow him. Not like we have anywhere else to go."

Luke started behind the little creature without waiting for Leia to reply, and Leia was caught between following him and going back with Artoo and Threepio. She sighed and ran to catch up with him. By the time she caught up to Luke, he had stopped in front of a small hut with the creature sitting in front of it next to a familiar old man.

"Ben!" Luke said in excitement.

"Jedi," Leia said in a much less enthusiastic tone.

"Hello Luke. It's been a long time," Obi-wan said to his former pupil's son. Then he turned to Leia and smiled. "And you've certainly grown up since the last time I saw you Leia."

Leia remained passive and Luke rolled his eyes.

"Really Leia," he said.

"What?" she said with her arms crossed.

_Be nice,_ he sent and Leia sighed.

"Hello," she finally said in a much lighter tone than before. "Who are you?"

"Sorry," Obi-wan said. "I forgot that you don't know us. I'm Obi-wan and this is Master Yoda."

"Master?" Luke asked.

"Yes. A jedi master," Obi-wan explained.

"Nice to meet you," Luke said with a tilt of his head, ever aware of Leia's growing discomfort. "This is Leia."

The old master nodded with his eyes closed. "Know who you are, I do. A long time it has been. Much to discuss we have."

"We're not discussing anything," Leia declared grabbing Luke's hand. "We're getting out of here."

Luke rolled his eyes and turned to Obi-wan and Yoda. "We'll be right back. We're just going to talk for a minute."

Luke led Leia back into the forest and ignoring her apparent displeasure, put his hands on his hips and sighed.

"What is your problem?"

"Their jedi. That's my problem," Leia said haughtily. "And if you don't remember, the last jedi we trusted tried to kill you because of who your father was."

"They're not like him Leia. I'm not getting any bad vibes from them like I was getting from Tytus. Besides, this is coming from the person who willingly went with Darth Vader and trusted him, a virtual stranger might I add, when he told her he was her father," Luke pointed out.

"He is our father and he wasn't a stranger to me. I told you I remember how he felt. And this is way different. Sure Vader's a sith and though I don't really agree with that part he is still our father. These are the guys who took us and then separated us to hide us from the only family we had left. They didn't even want us to grow up together," Leia snapped.

"Look at it from their point of view Leia. They were doing what they thought was right," Luke said.

"And do you think if they had found us first they would have mentioned we were twins?" Leia shot.

"Leia," Luke said rolling his eyes. "Why can't you just trust me? I'm not going to put you in danger. I'd sooner die."

"That's the point," she snapped and after a pause added softly, "I don't want it to come to that again,"

"It won't," Luke said to her. "These jedi won't hurt us. Come on Leia. Please!"

Leia sighed. "Fine, but as soon as I can somehow get a signal, I'm calling dad. This place is hot. Reminds me of Tatooine."

Yoda and Obi-wan were waiting for them patiently when they came back, Leia in a somewhat better mood than she had been before. Luke started to speak but Leia spoke first.

"You know," she said offhandedly. "It is a pretty big coincidence that we somehow got off course and landed here where two jedi are waiting on us. I don't know how you brought us here but you are going to tell me why you brought us here."

Luke hadn't thought about that and he doubted he would have at all if it weren't for Leia pointing it out. Sometimes he was glad she was a wary person.

"The will of the force it was," Yoda explained. "Nothing more. Nothing less."

"Will of the force my-."

"Leia," Luke snapped.

"Fine," she said and stopped talking.

"Sorry about her," Luke said rolling his eyes.

"Hmp," Yoda said starting toward his hut. "Wary and suspicious like her father she is. Rude and arrogant. Not good qualities of a jedi are they. Much to learn she has. Much to learn."

"A jedi," Leia said.

"You're serious! You'll train us to be jedi," Luke said in excitement. "Isn't this great Leia."

"Depends on how you look at it," she replied in a caustic tone (Luke thought that at this rate her voice would be stuck in a permanent sarcastic and dry tone). "Why do you automatically assume we want to be jedi?"

"Your destiny it is to become a jedi and defeat the sith. It is the will of the force," Yoda said going into his hut.

"Wait," Luke said going after him.

Leia kept her distance and it wasn't until Obi-wan said something that she stopped staring after them.

"Aren't you coming?" Obi-wan asked her.

Leia simply nodded and followed after Luke into the small hut who was eagerly talking to Yoda about becoming a jedi.

"Adventure, a jedi does not seek," Yoda chided. "Reckless, they are not."

"I'll try and work on that," Luke said running a hand through his hair.

"Luke," Leia said to him careful not to bump her head on the low ceiling. "We aren't here to train. We have to leave."

"We can't go anywhere now," Luke pointed out. "Our ship is stuck."

_I don't want to train to be a jedi and I have no idea what this is about or at least how they see it, _Leia sent silently making sure their shields were up so the two jedi couldn't overhear.

_What choice do we have right now Leia? Come on. Just until father comes to get us,_ Luke replied.

_You do know Vader kills jedi, right?_ Leia pointed out.

_We'll deal with that when he comes but right now what else can we do. Besides, I don't really want to be a sith like father wants us to be and take over the empire. I'm not evil._

Leia paused and then said, _Dad never said anything about teaching us to be sith. And anyway, I don't think the jedi are everything people talk them up to be._

_Leia,_ Luke said in a tone that said he was tired of arguing with her.

_Fine. We're stuck here. Train, but-._

_I know. You're not happy with this situation and you're not going to make this easy on them,_ Luke finished rolling his eyes.

_You know me so well, _Leia said smiling.

"Fine," Leia grumbled. "We'll stay for a while. But that doesn't mean we're becoming jedi. We're only here to see if we can learn anything from you."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Vader tapped his fingers on his chair as what he now called his 'father sense' went off. His suspicions were confirmed when he checked the tracker and he found out the signal on his it wasn't beaconing, but it hadn't been deactivated. That was odd.

He activated the com in his mask. "Luke," he said into the com. "Luke."

There was a long pause before a voice came through the com.

"Father?" Luke asked seeming surprised.

Vader scowled. Something was definitely not right.

"Where are you? The tracking device I put in your ship is not giving off a beacon."

Luke was silent and Vader instantly knew he wasn't telling something.

"Luke," he warned.

"We had an accident, but me and Leia are fine. Some friends found us and they're going to help us until we can go. Don't worry about us."

"What friends? And why didn't you contact me when you had this accident?"

"We did try… well Leia did. I guess we can receive calls but we can't make them," Luke suggested.

That explained the tracking device, Vader thought and then got back to the task at hand.

"What friends Luke?"

"It's alright father. We're fine. We'll head to Naboo as soon as we can alright?" Luke asked.

Vader began to speak but stopped when he heard Leia in the background of the communications.

"Is that father?" she asked curiously.

"No," Luke said quickly.

"Yes it is. Did you tell him what's going on? That-."

"Leia," Luke said in frustration.

"Give me that com," Leia demanded.

"No way," Luke said and spoke to Vader. "Talk later father."

The communications were cut leaving a very suspicious Vader on the other end. He sighed. It would be suspicious if he suddenly dropped out of hyperspace to go find his wayward children that the emperor knew nothing about he reminded himself. Vader sighed. He would have to take care of his mission overseeing the construction of the Death Star first. Luke and Leia weren't at all in danger. He would have felt that so the two would have to wait.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Why didn't you tell him where we were?" Leia snapped.

"What's your problem?" Luke asked.

"I don't want to be here. That's what," Leia snapped.

Luke started to snap a reply but then stopped as he thought about where they were. They were practically stranded on a swamp and forest planet that had no other life forms besides Yoda and Obi-Wan and they had no connection to the outside worlds since their ship was stuck. It was practically Leia's worst nightmare.

He sighed and put his hand on her shoulder stopping her from setting up her tent.

"What?" she asked.

"I wish you would just tell me when you're scared instead of getting all unreasonable and mean," Luke pointed out sitting next to her.

"I'm not scared," Leia said but in a much nicer tone than earlier.

"I know you better than that. You don't like to show when you're scared so you act like a krayt dragon to hide it. I'll tell you what. You don't have to try any of this training out. In fact, we can go see if there's a way to get our ship out that swamp and we'll leave," Luke suggested.

"You're always willing to sacrifice what you want to do for me," Leia said sighing. "If this is what you really want, I guess we can both give this jedi thing a shot."

"And if you don't like it or it at all makes you uncomfortable, we can stop any time," Luke added.

"I'm already uncomfortable with it," said Leia and Luke gave her a wry look.

"Enough talking you have done. Rest you must. A long day tomorrow you have," Yoda chided.

Both Luke and Leia made an indignant sound at being told what to do but set up their tent and got in to go to sleep none the less. Luke poked his head out to talk to Threepio and Artoo.

"Will you two be okay out here?"

"Don't you have another tent Master Luke? It's awfully-."

Artoo replied in the affirmative and Luke zipped up his tent satisfied with the answer.

The next morning, Luke and Leia were rudely awakened by Yoda prodding them in their tent with his walking stick.

"Rise and shine it is. Time to train. Long day, we have," Yoda said.

Leia poked her head out the tent and then reluctantly climbed out, nudging Luke at the same time.

"Leave me alone Leia," Luke replied.

Leia scowled. "You got us into this Luke and if I'm going to get up and train so are you," she replied

Luke groaned but followed his sister out the tent nonetheless. Three hours later, he was wishing he had listened to Leia or stayed in bed at least, as he ran laps around the clearing with Yoda on his back.

"This is ridiculous," Leia said panting. "What does this have to do with the force? All we're proving is that we're in great physical shape."

"Careful you must be young one. Fear lead to anger, anger lead to hate, hate lead to suffering. Path of the dark side it is," Yoda chided.

"This would be a lot easier if I knew what the dark side was," Leia said as she ran next to Luke.

"When calm and at peace you, you will know. A jedi uses the force for defense and knowledge, never for attack," Yoda said to them.

"Does attacking someone before they attack you count as defense," Luke asked.

"Too many questions you ask. Run," Yoda said urging them on.

"Perhaps that's enough running for today Yoda," Obi-wan suggested.

"I'm with him," Luke agreed stopping.

Yoda jumped off Luke's back and looked at Obi-wan. "Two masters a student cannot have."

"A master shouldn't have two students, especially when their Skywalkers," Obi-wan pointed out. "How about I take Leia tomorrow? It would be good for them to train apart."

"Train apart?" Luke and Leia said as they followed the little Jedi into his hut.

"Yes. Attachment to each other you have. Attachments a jedi does not have. There is only the force," Yoda said to them both.

"What's that mean?" Luke asked sitting down careful not to bump his head on the low ceiling.

"It's the code that all jedi live by," Obi-wan replied.

"What code?" Luke asked tired of the evasive answers.

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force," Obi-wan chanted.

Luke seemed to accept that answer but Leia, who wanted to know everything about the jedi that she could know before deciding to commit to it at all asked, "What does that have to do with attachment?"

"A jedi is supposed to separate their emotions from their duty and when a jedi forms an attachment, emotions start to interfere with duty," Obi-wan explained.

"Who says?" Leia challenged.

"It's been part of our teachings for centuries and we live by that."

"Just because you've been doing something for centuries doesn't make it right. I want to know who came up with that and why?"

"Come to understand you will child," Yoda said, "No more questions will we answer today."

"Well then I'll just tell you what I think. This jedi code is too broad and general. It leaves a lot of room for interpretation but with all due respect, the way you explain it, the jedi are droids," Leia pointed out.

"Much like your father you are. Questioning the way of the jedi he was," Yoda pointed out.

"I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just stating my opinion of it," Leia pointed out.

_You really should have been a politician, _Luke sent as Yoda passed them both a bowl of what looked like green slop to them. Leia took one glance at it and sat it down in front of her while Luke carefully inspected the concoction.

"What's this?" he asked looking at Obi-wan and the man shrugged.

"Good food it is. Eat up. Replenish strength you will need to," Yoda urged.

"I'm not that hungry," Leia replied as Luke tried to taste the food.

_You're lying,_ Luke sent.

_I'll see if I can get into the ship and find something later. But I'm not eating that slop. It looks like slave food, _Leia said crossing her arms.

Luke nodded in understanding and as he put a bit of the food in his mouth and immediately gagged. Leia laughed at him and Luke glared at her.

_At least I tried it!_

Meanwhile, Yoda and Obi-wan were quietly watching their exchange, aware that the two were communicating telepathically though they couldn't hear the conversation.

"Rely on each other too much you do. Rely completely on the force, you must," Yoda said to him. "Let go of attachment to each other you must. Too dependent on each other you are."

"So that means we can't at all rely on people?" Luke asked.

"Not completely," Obi-wan corrected. "The only thing you can rely on completely is the force. I've observed you both and your greatest strength is your greatest weakness."

"What's that?" asked Leia.

"Your dependency on each other. You're at your most powerful together. When you're together you both know there's nothing you can't do, but you both must have that same confidence when you're not together because as long as you have the force, anything is possible."

"But that's not a bad thing is it?" asked Luke.

"It depends on your point of view."

"That is why, tomorrow, train you separately we will. Train you Luke, Obi-wan will," Yoda said to them.

Everyone did a double take then. Leia was the one who didn't want to train at all so it made sense to all of them that Yoda should take the more willing student.

"Are you sure about that?" Luke asked looking at Leia.

"Take young Leia and personally train her tomorrow I will. Train with Obi-wan in the morning you will young Luke," Yoda said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You must focus Luke. Be calm. Let the force flow through you," Obi-wan said to Luke the next day as he tried to help him lift objects through the force.

"Ugh. If Leia were here this would be so much easier," Luke said frustrated.

"And there lies your problem. You depend too much on each other. Stop thinking about Leia. Pretend she doesn't exist and that you're the only one that can help yourself," Obi-wan suggested.

"Pretend Leia doesn't exist? I can't even imagine it to tell the truth," Luke admitted.

"And that's where your weakness is. Now focus, forget about everything," Obi-wan said to Luke.

Luke stared at Obi-wan for a moment and sighed before clearing his mind of all thoughts and concerns, even the ones of Leia, and focused on raising the rocks into the air.

"That's it Luke," Obi-wan said. "Keep your focus. Listen to the force alone."

Meanwhile, Leia had no time to think as she ran with Yoda on her back, but this time with a blindfold.

"Mm," Yoda said with his eyes closed. "Much determination and focus you have. But calm and peace of mind, you must have."

"I have all that when I'm not mad or someone's done something to disturb me," Leia pointed out going to her left to dodge a tree.

"And there is the problem. Let external forces and emotions disturb your calm and peace of mind, you must not. Think when mind disturbed or clouded with emotion, you must not less start down a dark path you shall like Vader."

"Well he may be dark, but Vader's not such a bad guy, at least not for a father anyway," Leia said. "What disturbed his mind and emotions so much then? Why did he turn?"

"Lust for power your father had. Impatient he was," Yoda said to her.

"But why did he want power?" Leia asked. "Some people want power for the heck of it so they can boss others around or make them scared. Vader doesn't seem like that. He's always talking about me and Luke helping him bring peace and order to the empire. That doesn't seem so wrong even though I don't necessarily agree with the empire. Bunch of cowards if you ask me."

"Power, a jedi does not crave. Only peace."

"But you have to have the power to bring peace or what good is it?" Leia asked as she stopped running.

"Why stop running have you?" Yoda asked.

"There's something dark over there," Leia said pointing to her right before taking off her blindfold and looking at the cave. She sat Yoda down and looked at him "What's in there?"

"Only what you take with you."

Leia started towards it and then stopped beginning to shiver. She hated the dark and she hated caves, but then she remembered that she could always find her way out if she needed. She didn't have to that far in.

"Very good Luke. Eventually you'll be able to do it on two fingers," Obi-wan said.

Luke wasn't sure. He had a hard enough time upside down on one hand making objects float, and it was taking all his concentration and focus, along with some he didn't know he had, to do that.

Then he felt something in the force. He tried to ignore it, but it was calling him and he broke his focus to listen to it. It was Leia.

Luke broke his concentration completely then and fell backwards. His back was going to be hurting later, but right then he didn't care.

"Luke, what happened?" Obi-wan asked.

"Where's Leia?" he demanded. "Where did Master Yoda take her?"

"Luke calm down."

"She's scared. Where did he go?" Luke said standing up and reaching out with the force to try to find Leia and Yoda.

"I'm sure that Master Yoda wouldn't let anything happen to her. She's fine Luke. Luke!" Obi-wan shouted as Luke took off running in the forest shouting Leia's name.

Obi-wan went after him albeit a little slower. He was getting too old to be chasing after a rebellious padawan.

Luke found Yoda standing patiently watching something shaking his head, but he wasn't concerned about Yoda.

"Where's Leia?" he demanded. Leia's fear was getting worse.

Yoda didn't reply but Luke followed his line of vision to the cave.

"What's she in there for?" Luke demanded.

"Fine she is," Yoda said calmly.

"That's-." Luke stopped when he heard Leia scream and swore violently and ran into the cave.

Yoda shook his head. "Long way from letting go of their attachment to each other they are."

"Hm… But their attachment to each other drives them," Obi-wan pointed out. "We can't ignore that."

"Fear what it drives them to, I do," Yoda said.

"Leia," Luke called in the cave. He didn't have to go far to find her sitting on her knees with her face in her hands.

"Luke," she said taking her face out her hands and then putting then covering her face again. "Luke make it stop."

"Make what stop?" Luke said grabbing hold of Leia's shoulders. She was trembling. That was never a good sign for her. Something had really shaken her. "Leia there's nothing there."

"You don't see it," she muttered. "I should die. I'm going to be a horrible person."

"Who told you that?" Luke asked her but she didn't answer and instead was muttering something under her breath.

Luke didn't try to talk to her again. Instead, he picked her up off the ground and carried her out the cave trying to control his anger when he saw Obi-wan and Yoda.

"What did you do to her?" he demanded.

"Saw a truth she did. Nothing more, nothing less. Learned a lesson she has," Yoda said. "Learned yours, you have not."

"Whatever," Luke said stomping past them and taking Leia into their tent. Leia had calmed down a little by then and when Luke tried to make her lay down, she sat up staring ahead of her.

"You came," she said. "I didn't think you would."

Luke smiled. "You know I'll always come when you call. The entire imperial fleet couldn't stop me." Luke then frowned. "Leia. What did you see?"

Leia was silent before laying back and closing her eyes. "I'll tell you later. Just give me a minute," she said.

Luke nodded and satisfied that she was alright left the tent and headed into Yoda's hut not at all happy with the two jedi.

"What did you send her in there for?" Luke snapped.

"It was part of her training Luke. She had to learn something for herself and unless she saw it for herself, she would have risked going down a dark path," Obi-wan said to him.

"I don't care. I'm more worried about her sanity. She hates dark places and she hates caves. What's your problem?"

"She has to learn to overcome her fears herself, Luke, without you. You won't always be able to protect her. Some things she just has to endure, especially when it's her choice."

"She's endured enough in her lifetime. Leia should be somewhere in a palace asking for nothing if you ask me, and I'll be damned before I let something happen to her," Luke snapped.

"Your father probably thought the same thing," Obi-wan pointed out.

Luke started to snap a reply but then frowned and asked more curious than angry, "What are you talking about?"

"Your father made the same vow to your mother and in the end he tried to kill her because he couldn't get her to come to his side. I saw him try to choke her while she was pregnant with you and your sister. If I hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened," Obi-wan said.

"See you now why protect you and Leia from him, we tried. From yourselves protect you and Leia, we want to. Same fate as father, you must not have," Yoda warned.

"So you're saying in my effort to protect Leia, I might hurt her?" Luke asked.

"Finally see you do. Let go of your attachment to her you must."

Luke shook his head. "I can't do that. Leia's not just my sister. She's my best friend and I don't care what rule of the jedi I'm breaking, I'm not going to abandon her ever if I can help it. Heck, I'll follow her to death if I have to. I'd even-." Luke abruptly stopped.

"Sell your soul if you had to?" Obi-wan finished. "That's a dangerous declaration. It can lead you down a dark path."

Luke was floored. Now he knew what Leia meant when she said that maybe the jedi weren't all they were talked up to be. Sure they looked like saints from the outside, but to rid yourself of all attachments. Luke could live without things. He had been poor on Tatooine and even though he and Leia made all kinds of money on the run, they normally used it for the upkeep of their ship, weapons, reinvesting for their personal mission that usually weren't paying jobs, or basic necessities. Neither of them were very concerned about having many material things. However, Luke didn't see himself living without Leia or some kind of family in the future one day. He didn't know is he could willingly sacrifice that.

He clenched his jaw and looked at Obi-wan and Yoda.

"Then maybe I'm not meant to be a jedi," Luke said. "Not this kind of jedi anyway."

"Luke," Obi-wan said immediately wanting to do damage control.

"Listen I'm not saying the way of the jedi is wrong. You have some really good principles, but what you're asking me to give up… I can't," Luke muttered.

"Immature you are. With more training, more understanding will come. See wisdom in precautions, you will," Yoda said.

"I'm not bending on this one. I'm sorry. I want nothing more than to be a jedi, but I made a promise to Leia long before I made any promises to this. Leia's right, I shouldn't just run blindly into something I know nothing about and I don't know anything about the jedi," Luke said and started to crawl out the hut. Then he stopped and added, "Maybe that's why they were hunted down. People fear what they know nothing about and when you don't make information open to the public, they think you have something evil to hide. I'm not saying you are evil, but this isn't for us."

Luke crawled out the hut and headed to his and Leia's tent.

"Pack your stuff," Luke said to her as he came in the tent.

Leia looked up from her datapad in surprise.

"What?"

"Pack your stuff," Luke said calmly as he gathered his things.

"Why?"

"We're leaving," he said and stepped out the tent.

Leia followed him. "But why? I though you wanted to be a jedi?"

"I changed my mind," Luke said simply. "We'll talk about this on the ship."

"The ship is stuck," Leia said.

"We're getting it out. If we use the force together, I think we can manage it," Luke said gathering the rest of their things. "Artoo, Threepio. Let's go!"

"Luke!" Leia shouted as Luke started to where their ship was stuck in the swamp. Leia glanced at their tent and then decided they could do without it and followed her brother. Obi-wan and Yoda followed behind them.

Luke dropped all his things in from of him and inspected where their ship had sunk into the swamp. Leia stood next to him deciding to save all her questions about Luke's sudden change of heart for later. Instead, she too took in their ship and touched their connection.

_This is certainly going to be tricky, _she sent.

_But not impossible if we work together, _Luke replied and Leia nodded in agreement, both ignoring Yoda and Obi-wan standing behind them.

"Oh Master Luke. Miss Leia. How are you ever going to get the _Amidala_ out? It's impossible. The odds of you getting it out are-."

"Your odds don't calculate the force Threepio," Luke pointed out as he combined his force power with Leia's.

_We can do this,_ Luke said.

_I know we can, _Leia said closing her eyes and letting the force flow through her with Luke.

Both of them put out their hands out. Leia as though pushing down and Luke as though lifting something up. They grasped onto their ship with the force and Leia moved her hands down and Luke lifted his up. For a moment, it looked like nothing would happen, until slowly the ship begin to shake and then it started to slowly rise out the swamp. Then, the back end began to slowly fall back causing the ship to level again. It levitated in the air for a moment before it moved to more level ground and then slowly was set down.

Luke and Leia broke their concentration and let out a sigh of relief. That had been tiring.

"We did it," Leia panted with a wide grin.

"I knew we could," Luke said gathering their things. Leia went to let the ramp down and headed onto the ship, but Luke turned around to look at Yoda and Obi-wan.

"I'm sorry we wasted your time. And I don't know what your plan was, but whatever it is, me and Leia can't be part of it. We've written our own destiny and it's always going to be with each other," Luke said and bowed his head. "May the force be with you."

"And with you and your sister young Skywalker," Yoda said.

As the ship took off Obi-wan looked stared at it in contemplation before saying, "Perhaps they're right. Maybe their fate does not lie with the jedi. Not yet anyway."

"Hm," Yoda said. "Perhaps right you are. Lies in each other their faith and strength does. Perhaps through the path of the jedi their destiny they will not fulfill. A different path they must take. Hope for the galaxy, they may still be."

"You are right. The force is still very strong with them. They may be more attuned to what it wants even more than we because they have no teaching to follow," Obi-wan suggested.

"Mm… Meditate on this, I will."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Luke knew what Leia wanted as soon as she sat next to him in the cockpit. He didn't even have to have a connection with her to know it. He didn't immediately reply and so becoming impatient, Leia said, "So?"

"I couldn't be a jedi. Not like they wanted me to be anyway. I'd give up everything else, but I'm not will to let go of you," Luke admitted.

"So you don't think your sister can live without you huh?" Leia asked with a smile.

"It wasn't even about you being my sister. In fact, we didn't have to be related at all. You're my best friend regardless," Luke reminded her. "Besides, it was more that I can't imagine living without you."

Leia leaned her chin on her hand. "Really?"

"Yeah, but not even just you. To be a jedi, it's all about being above human need and family, love, emotional attachment is a human need you know? I don't think it's possible to be human without it," Luke said.

"True," Leia replied. "But I admire people who are willing to do that for the sake of everyone else."

"No one should have to give all that up to dedicate themselves to something. I don't think that's what their code means although I do think sacrifice is a part of it. Just not that kind of sacrifice," Luke said to her. "You were right though. I shouldn't have jumped into this without knowing anything about it."

"Ever the impulsive one," Leia said with a smile.

"Ever the wary one," Luke added. "But we complement each other."

Luke started to get up but Leia stopped him. Luke looked at her questioningly and Leia averted her eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"You don't think that… do you ever wonder if I'm really any better than the people I fight against sometimes?" she asked.

Luke tilted his head in confusion at her. "What makes you ask that?"

Leia didn't answer and then Luke remembered when she said she was going to end up a horrible person in the cave.

"What did you see when you went in that cave?"

Leia was silent for a long time and Luke was starting to think he was going to have to pry it out of her until she said, "I saw myself as an adult and I don't know what I was, but I had power. I had some kind of title or right and at first I was glad because I thought it meant I was making a difference. You know… I thought I was helping make the galaxy a better place but that wasn't it."

"What did you do?" Luke asked.

"I was just like my former masters. I treated people like they were below me all in the name of trying to bring order and peace to the galaxy. Human life didn't matter anymore and then, when you tried to warn me I tried to kill you," Leia said softly.

Yoda and Obi-wan's words came back to him and though he hadn't understood it. So the jedi teachings did have merit to it…

"What's that mean Luke? Am I destined to be a monster for wanting to give people like that their just deserts?"

"No," Luke said slowly as the two jedi's words rang out in his mind. "But I think it's the way you do it. The intention can be good, but the way to get it doesn't have to be and that's what makes it evil. "

"But what was that vision saying about me? Is it my future?" Leia asked. "I don't want to be like that. I'd sooner kill myself than be that way."

Luke felt Leia's emotions going in a spiral and slid his chair closer to her.

"Calm down," he said leaning his head on top of hers. "Maybe it was just a warning."

"A warning?"

"Now before I say this, I'm not saying that you're a bad person. But you can be kind of cold and unfeeling. I think it's a warning. Maybe it's time you let go of your past. You can't let it bother you anymore," Luke said.

"I'll never forget it. It's what motivates me to keep fighting. People shouldn't have to suffer like that," Leia whispered.

"You don't have to forget it. Don't ever forget it in fact. Let it drive you. But don't let it bother you so much, make you bitter, or dominate your destiny I guess," Luke said. "It'll drive you crazy."

Leia was silent as she contemplated Luke's words. Luke decided no more words were needed and starting to close his eyes when the ship com went off. He sat up and answered it. Vader's hologram came up.

"I see you have gotten back on course from your detour," he said.

"You probably want an explanation," Luke said to him.

"Eventually," Vader replied. "But I am currently on a very important assignment from the emperor. So I would appreciate it if you would both head straight for Naboo and make no more detours that I might personally have to intervene in."

"It wasn't even our fault," Leia said. "It was those dumb jedi."

Vader was silent for a moment before replying, "Jedi?"

Luke looked at Leia out the corner of her eye. Leia got the message and began to try putting together an excuse, before Vader raised his hand.

"I will inquire about your 'detour' at another time," he said not sure he even wanted to know. "But I'm warning you…"

"Don't worry about it," Luke said as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. "If you're paying attention to your tracker, we're in the Naboo system."

Leia sat up and gazed at the beautiful planet for the second time in her life, the planet she never thought she'd step foot on again.

"Never thought we'd step foot on this place again," Luke said in wonder looking at it with her.

"Especially to be calling it home," Leia added.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_In the next chapter, Luke and Leia finally meet their mother's family and after proving who their parents are, they're treated like royalty and given the stable home they really never had. But it doesn't stay that simple. Luke and Leia were made for the spotlight and again gain the attentions of the queen prompting her to making a stunning move…_

It was interesting writing this because I knew that the jedi would be critical of Luke and Leia's attachment to each other and Luke would have to choose, but the way I see it you can't make a promise to something if it interferes with a promise you already made to someone so I found it as a reasonable way to write this. I also like writing Leia's cave scene, I thought I would do Luke but then I was like… Leia might have an interesting vision in there.

Anywho sorry it's so late, but I am just so frustrated trying to figure out how to make an epub. If I don't figure out how to do it, I have to pay the website that I'm going to do it through () $99 to convert it and that's ridiculous to me when I can do it myself if I can just figure out how to do it and publish an ebook for free. I don't have that money right now and I don't have a job to invest in it. I should go ask my friend who blew eighty dollars to get a hoodie with her name and a short phrase on it (shakes head). That's it. I need a job for the holiday's. Anyway hope you enjoyed. Review Please!


	5. Return to Naboo

**STOP… Please:** I know. I'm not the kind of author to make you read these, but just for a minute. I made this chapter super long to make up for it. I need you all to do me a favor and **visit my profile**! You don't have to is you don't want but please! Got it. Good. Now on with the story. A lot to say about it, but I'm really excited about something and can't think of what to say.

Read, enjoy, and review please.

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**Chapter Five**

**Return to Naboo**

Luke and Leia followed Vader's directions to the private land owned by their mother's family and stared at it in awe.

"Wow," Leia whispered. "I feel like I belong here…"

"I know. It's refreshing. It'll be nice living somewhere for a while," Luke said as they approached the house.

Leia looked at him and smiled. "I could have carried my own bag."

Luke ignored her and said, "What kind of brother would I be if I let you do that?"

"I'm not a piece of glass, Luke."

Artoo said something to them in excitement and sine Leia couldn't understand binary when he went so fast, Luke translated.

"You say this is where our parents fell in love and got married?" he asked.

Artoo nodded his dome and replied.

"You and Threepio were there?"

Threepio shook his head. "I think he's mistaken. I don't remember attending a wedding service here."

Artoo whistled a dry reply.

"A memory wipe!" Threepio said. "Oh dear. That's horrible. How many lives have I been through only to have them erased when I was passed on to a new master?"

Luke and Leia approached the front door.

"Is anyone here?" Leia asked. "It's pretty dark."

"It's pretty late here. It's past midnight. They're probably asleep, but yeah. Someone's there," Luke said feeling the presences in the force although he wasn't quite sure how many there were. They hadn't gotten that far in their training yet.

Leia rung the doorbell and a few moments later a middle aged woman with long brown hair appeared in her robe.

"Who-?" she started to say but Leia cut her off.

"Can we come in? We can explain everything," she assured.

"You're trespassing. This land has been in the Naberrie family for years. Outsiders aren't allowed," she said. "You should leave and I won't report it."

The woman started to close the door but then Luke stepped forward and blurted out, "Padmé was our mother."

_So much for tact Luke,_ Leia sent.

The woman started to retort but then Luke's words penetrated, and she narrowed her eyes.

"How dare you?" she snapped. "That's impossible. My sister died before she gave birth."

"No she didn't," Leia said keeping the woman from closing the door. "If you just let us in we'll explain everything."

"Mother," a voice from behind them said. "Who are you talking to?"

Leia's eyes widened when she saw the woman. "Pooja," she said.

Pooja looked at Leia and gasped.

"It's you," Pooja whispered.

"Who?" her mother asked.

"Mom that's the girl who saved me three years ago during Aunt Padmé's memorial," Pooja said coming past her mother to get to Leia. "Why are you back here?"

"We're trying to explain that," Leia said patiently. "Would you mind if we come in?"

Pooja looked at her mother who was scowling and then turned back to Luke and Leia letting them in the house. She led them to the couch near the fire place and the twins welcomed the warmth as Pooja sat across from them.

"I was so worried about you when you ran off and so was the queen," she said.

"Really?" Luke asked.

_After the mess we caused?_ Leia sent.

"You saved a lot of lives that day. Who knows what might have happened if you two hadn't been there," Pooja said.

"Well," Luke said running a hand through his hair. "We had no choice but to leave after what we did… well, how we did it anyway."

Pooja looked at them in confusion for a moment before nodding as she remembered.

"That's right. You used the force right?"

Luke and Leia nodded.

"Enough of that," Pooja's mother said catching Luke and Leia's attention. "What were the two of you talking about earlier?"

"Mother, why are you being so impolite? These are the children that saved my life. We owe them-."

"We owe them nothing, especially after they come in here with ridiculous claims," she snapped.

"Sola what are you shouting about," a man said coming in. Then he noticed Luke and Leia. "Who are they?"

"This is Kyle and Kyla. They're-."

"Actually," Leia said speaking up. "It's Luke and Leia. We were going by fake names."

"Luke and Leia?" Pooja asked. "Why would you need fake names?"

"Can you just let us talk for a minute?" Leia asked wryly.

The family was silent. Finally Luke took a deep breath and prepared to tell the story that Vader had prepared for them to tell.

"Well, you already know our names and to be honest we didn't think you'd remember us. Anyway…" Luke forgot exactly what Vader had wanted them to say and Leia rolled her eyes not one to beat around the bush.

"Padmé Amidala was our mother," she said to them and everyone looked at them in stunned disbelief.

"That's impossible," Sola said. "My sister died before she gave birth."

"That's what you were supposed to think, but the… certain people knew that me and Luke would be in danger if you or anyone knew that we were alive so they had to hide us from the empire," Leia explained.

"Why would they have to hide you from the empire?" Sola snapped.

_And here comes the hardest part,_ Luke sent to Leia.

"Well?" Sola demanded becoming impatient with the two teenager's hesitancy.

"Because our father was a jedi," Luke finally said.

Again, everyone sat in stunned disbelief at Luke and Leia before Sola shook her head and started to head for the com.

"You're lying and I'm not going to sit here and listen to you two dishonor my sister's memory in your sick game. I'm reporting you to the authorities," she said.

"But we're not lying," Leia said and then reached into her pocket. "We have proof."

Leia handed Pooja the datapad. Pooja turned it on and looked at the data before saying, "Mother, they're telling the truth."

"How do we know it isn't a forged test?" Sola demanded.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You can take us to get another test yourself if you want. That has to count for something. Heck, all you have to do is look at Leia. She looks just like our mother."

Sola put the com down and turned to look at Leia. Then she gasped startled as her brown eyes met Leia's. Slowly the realization dawned on her as she out her hands over her mouth.

"Oh my god," she said as the tears sprung to her eyes.

"Why are all the lights on down here?" someone else said a woman much older than the others it sounded like. Then she felt the tension in the room, "What's going on…?"

The older woman stopped to stare at Luke and Leia and then ran over to them and engulfed them in a hug.

"Oh force. I knew I'd meet you one day. I knew you weren't dead," she whispered.

Luke and Leia, not accustomed to such displayed of affection unless it was between each other pulled back from the woman.

"You know who we are?" they both asked.

The woman laughed. "Of course I know who you are. There's only two people on the planet you could have gotten your looks from. You're my Padmé's babies."

_Is she force sensitive or something? _Leia asked trying to see if she missed something when she felt the woman's presence.

_I don't think so. But how else would she know?_

"How did you-?" Luke started but the woman, their grandmother, sat them down and sat between them.

"Call it mother's intuition. I never believed you two had died, especially since I knew Padmé was involved with that Jedi she brought home when he was protecting her. I always figured someone was hiding you to protect you. Your aunt," she said glaring at Sola. "She never believed. Thought I was going crazy."

Sola sighed. "Fine. You were right, but it still doesn't explain why they're here after, from what I've heard, being on the run from the empire all this time."

"Come on you two," Jobal said. "You must be starving. You can tell us everything over breakfast."

"But mother," Sola said. "It's three in the morning."

"And we have two very important guests. This is a reunion and it has to be celebrated no matter what time of night it is," she added.

"Actually," Luke said. "We don't want to inconvenience you. Besides, we're both tired. It's been a long and interesting trip."

"Well come on," Jobal gushed. "I'll show you to your room and you can get some rest."

Luke and Leia followed Jobal to an extra bedroom.

"If I had known you were coming I would have prepared something for you, but I guess you'll have to share a room right now," she said.

"That's fine," Leia said going into the room with Luke following her. "This will due."

"Alright then. You two get some rest and then we'll definitely talk in the morning," Jobal warned.

"Thank you," the two teens said to her as Jobal closed the door.

Luke threw their bags on the floor and Leia sat on the bed tucking her legs under her.

"They seem nice," Luke said looking through his bags.

"I wonder how nice they'll be once they find out who our dad is now," Leia added dryly.

Luke shot her a glare. "Do you always have to be so cynical?"

"Can't help it. Unfortunately, I know people," Leia replied. "But they remind me a little of you. They're trusting, even Sola to a degree. I don't think I would have let someone stay in my house if I didn't know who they were for sure other than a datapad that proves it and even that isn't completely reliable."

"So what are you trying to say about me?" Luke asked jokingly.

Leia shrugged. "I'm just saying you're always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt even after they give you reason to be suspicious. I'm not like that… I can't be even when I try."

"You must have gotten it from father," Luke said with a smile. "But that's good. We need people like you and him in the galaxy. I'm not saying it's good to always be suspicious. It's not good to just be looking for bad in people, but you know the signs when you see it and are instantly on guard. Not easy to fool people like that."

"Well," Leia said. "As much as I'd love to stay up all night and analyze all our character traits, I'm tired. Night Luke."

"Night princess," Luke said clicking off the light.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Good morning," Luke grumbled the next morning when he and Leia went to the kitchen.

"More like afternoon," Pooja said smiling. "You all slept the day away. You must have been exhausted."

"We've had a busy couple of weeks," Leia admitted.

_More than busy,_ Luke sent and Leia smiled.

"Busy? How?" Sola asked.

Pooja rolled her eyes. "Mom. They just got up. Let them at least eat something first."

Sola scowled but didn't say anything else. Pooja gave Luke and Leia a sympathetic look.

"Sorry. She just wants answers I guess. I mean after all these years to find out you're alive and there's two of you…"

"I'm standing right here," Sola said preparing Luke and Leia something to eat despite the fact that she was displeased.

"If she wants to know, we'll tell her," Luke suggested.

Sola started to say something in excitement but Pooja spoke first.

"Grandmother wants to wait until Ryoo gets here," she said and then looked at Luke and Leia. "That way you only have to explain it once."

_Good,_ Leia said. _That gives us time to think of what we're going to tell them._

_Vader already told us what to say,_ Luke replied.

_Generally yes, but not specifically, _Leia said coming up with a story from her head that wasn't a lie, but a watered down version of the truth. _Just let me do all the talking._

_Then they'll know something's up. We're going to have to go over the story, _Luke said.

_But you're a horrible liar, _Leia pointed out.

_Ditto. I'd probably end up telling them Vader sent us here and that would go over well. Don't you think? _Luke asked dryly.

Leia choked on the fruit their aunt had given them as she laughed catching the attention of Pooja and Sola.

"I don't see how you found humor in that. The weirdest things amuse you," Luke said unaware of their stares as Leia smiled.

"What are you two laughing at?" they asked in confusion.

"Private joke," Leia said not getting their point.

"Odd," Sola said. "We didn't hear you talking."

Luke and Leia stopped. That was something they hadn't gone over with their father.

_Did father ever mention if we were supposed to tell them we're force sensitive?_

_He never mentioned it. But you have to wonder how can we not tell them. I mean once we tell them who our father is… was… whatever. They're going to ask,_ Leia replied.

"Alright. Why are you two so quiet about this?"

_We did it again didn't we? _Leia asked.

Luke nodded. They were so used to being around each other they forgot others would probably find it weird that they would sit and suddenly laugh or reply to an unspoken comment aloud. Han had gotten used to it when he was with them, he and Chewie actually. But they had never been around others long enough to think it was odd or not normal.

"We'll mention it when everyone gets here," Luke finally replied as he finished eating his fruit.

"Which is right now," Jobal said coming in the room. "I'm glad you two are finally up and just in time. Ryoo and her husband are here and she brought the baby."

"Ryoo?" Leia asked.

"My sister," Pooja explained. "Come on."

Luke and Leia followed Pooja, Sola, and Jobal into the living room where a woman, who they assumed to be Ryoo was sitting in the living room holding a baby boy in her arms. Pooja squealed and rushed to take the four month old from her sister while Luke and Leia sat across from them to themselves. They weren't quite sure what to do around a real family.

"Hello Ruwee," she said putting the baby up to her face and sitting next to her sister.

"Hello to you too sis," Ryoo said and then turned to her mother. "Now tell me why I had to rush out here?"

"We have some people you should meet and they have some explaining to do," Sola said getting to the point. "They claim to be Padmé's children."

A hush fell over the room again and once again Luke and Leia found themselves at the center of attention.

"That's impossible," Ryoo said and glared at them. "You're lying. My aunt died before she had her baby."

"That's what you were supposed to think," Leia said starting to talk in her diplomatic tone. "If you'll all calm down and let us explain, we'll tell you what happened."

"Well," Sola began, "I've been waiting on this all day. You have my full attention."

"What do you want to know?" Leia asked.

"Where did you all come from? And why are we just now finding out you exist, if you're telling the truth," Sola said.

"Sola," Jobal warned.

"It's alright Mrs. Naberrie," Leia said. "Me and Luke are just as surprised as you are actually. Until a few weeks ago, we had no idea we were even related."

"Then how did you find out?" Ryoo asked.

"It was an accident," Leia said softly looking at her lap. "Luke almost died and since the doctors thought we were twins since that's what we told them, they wanted to see if I matched his blood type. I told them we weren't related but they checked anyway and come to find out, we're twins."

"Twins," Jobal gushed. "We haven't had twins in the family since my great grandmother had them."

"Mom," Sola said looking at her mother.

Jobal rolled her eyes. "Keep going dear."

"Anyway, we met a man who used to be a friend of our father's and he took us in. However, he's a military man and he's often off planet so he decided to send us here to Naboo."

"How did he know who you were?"

"I told him Luke's last name," Leia replied.

_Is that really how it happened? _Luke asked.

_Vader has a strange way of making me do things I don't want to, _Leia replied dryly.

"What is Luke's last name?"

"Skywalker," Luke said and to everyone's surprise, Sola spoke up first.

"I knew it!" she said with a wide grin. "I knew there was something between Padmé and that jedi. You're talking about Anakin Skywalker right?"

Luke nodded.

"Hold on a minute," Ryoo said suspiciously. "How is it that you two didn't know you were related and if you didn't shouldn't the fact that you have the same last name have given it away?"

"That's the thing," Luke began before Leia could. "We were separated at birth by the jedi to protect us from the empire during the jedi purges. Anakin Skywalker was the most known jedi in the galaxy and somehow the emperor knew about his relationship with our mother and he would have tried to kill us."

_You actually didn't put your foot in your mouth, _Leia said dryly

"For what? You were just babies," Jobal said horrified.

_Should we tell them?_ Luke asked.

_We don't have a choice. If we don't they'll think we have something to hide. _Leia said.

"We're force sensitive," Leia said to them. "We have powers like the jedi used to and since the empire was killing all powerful force-sensitives, the jedi had no choice but to hide us where the emperor would never find us."

"But we met six years ago and caused some trouble," Luke continued. "So we kind of blew the hiding. Luckily our guardian found us when he did. We're not sure how much longer we would have been able to outrun the empire."

_Yeah right. They would have never caught us, _Leia said with a small smile.

Luke couldn't hold back a cocky grin.

"You said Padmé died right after you were born. How?"

Luke looked at Leia who didn't miss a beat and said, "She went after our father when he went to confront Vader and witnessed Vader kill him. The shock sent her into labor. Luckily another jedi had followed them, managed to defeat Vader and take her to a medical facility on a neutral planet. She was so shocked and heartbroken she just didn't want to live anymore. She gave birth to us and then she died."

Luke would never get over how easy lying came to Leia. She could come with a good story on a whim. She should really look into professional writing.

_Shock and heartbreak? _Luke sent.

_Shut up. Can't you see they're eating it right up?_

_Sounds like something out of a bad holo-movie if you ask me._

"Well why would he send you here now?" Pooja asked. "If they hid you from the empire before why send you here in the open again?"

"It's been sixteen years and we know how to shield our presence now. Besides, the best hiding place is out in the open," Leia said with a smile.

"Listen. We don't want to be a burden. If this is too much-." Luke began.

"Nonsense," Jobal said. "We would put you out on the streets again."

Luke shrugged. "We've never lived on the streets. We live on our ship. We're used to wandering space and travelling."

"Well you shouldn't have had to," Sola said determined. "Your mother wouldn't have wanted that and I bet you father wouldn't have either."

"You can stay with us," Ryoo said.

"You've got that baby to deal with," Sola said. "You focus on your one and I'll take Luke and Leia in. How does that sound to you two?"

"Thank you," said Luke. "One question though. Do you have somewhere we can keep our ship?"

"Your ship?" Pooja asked.

"Yeah," Luke said sheepishly. "You know. The one we stole. Our mother's old ship…"

Pooja frowned. "I'm going to have to talk to the queen about that. Even though it was your mother's ship, it still doesn't dismiss the fact that you both stole it."

"Sorry about that. It was an honest mistake," Luke said.

_Stealing that particular ship anyway,_ Leia continued.

"I'm sure she'll be very understanding of it," Pooja assured and then stood up. "Enough business. This is our last day on vacation. We'll worry about getting you all settled in later. Let's enjoy ourselves."

But even vacation was no picnic for Luke and Leia. They were so used to being on the run and doing things for themselves it was a strange concept to have adults who would do everything for them. Naturally, by the time the evening came, Luke and Leia were sufficiently bored and it was taking everything for them not to go try something reckless like riding a wild beast in the meadows.

"Luke, Leia," Sola said to them while they had resorted to meditating to pass the time. Their father would have been shocked to say the least.

Sola however just looked at them curiously and said, "What are you doing?"

"Meditating," Luke said opening his eyes to look at Sola.

"Did you want something?" Leia asked also coming out her trance.

Sola nodded not quite sure what meditating was, but she believed it had something to do with the jedi.

"We have something to show you," she said and ushered the twins to follow her to the living room.

A photo album was sitting on the round coffee table and Ryoo was sitting on the couch with her son. Sola sat down and gestured for the twins to sit on either side of her and picked up the album.

"You said you just recently found out who your mother was so I thought you'd like to see some pictures of her," Sola said opening the album and pointing to a picture. "This is Padmé when she was around eight or nine. She was helping our dad relocate refugees because they couldn't live on their planet any longer."

"Your dad," Leia said slowly.

"Where is he?" Luke asked wondering why she had never seen Jobal's husband.

"Dead. After Padmé died, his health just declined," Sola said quietly and then went back to the scrap book.

She flipped the page to when the girl was a little older. "And this is Padmé when she started getting into politics. Even then she wanted to help people."

Luke smiled. "You looked just like that when you were eleven except thinner," he said to Leia.

She nodded as Sola turned the page. "And there she is as the princess of Theed and this is a few months after that as the Queen of Naboo."

Leia looked at it and raised her eyebrows. "When was this?"

"After the Naboo and Gungans allied to take out the trade federation," Sola explained.

"They blockaded the planet and tried to take over right?" Leia asked.

"Right," Sola said.

Leia pointed to a little blonde haired boy in the picture on the page. "Look Luke. There's dad."

"How do you know?" Luke asked.

"He looked just like you did at ten," Leia replied and then added, "So dad was younger than mom."

Sola nodded and flipped further into the album. "This is them when he was protecting her after the assassination attempt on Padmé. We were so worried about her, but she came home that day and acted like nothing in the world was troubling her when your father was around. She denied it, but I knew then my sister had fallen hard and she didn't know it."

"They must have gotten married soon after this," Leia said.

"Why do you say?" Sola asked.

"Because the assassination attempts on mom's life were right before the clone wars. The clone wars began about a couple of weeks or so later. Mom and dad got married at the beginning of the war."

Ryoo smiled. "How do you know so much about your history?"

Leia shrugged. "I read a lot."

Luke was looking at another picture though and then grinned pointing at it.

"Look Leia. There's the Amidala," he said pointing to a picture of their mother greeting delegates in front of their ship.

"The Amidala?"

"The _Queen Amidala. _Our ship… Mom's ship. We named it after her. I guess we knew she was special to us before we were even conscious of the fact that she was our mother," Luke replied.

Just then Artoo came in talking rapidly to Luke.

"Artoo. What have I told you about meddling in human affairs?" Threepio said coming to stand behind him.

Artoo gave a reply and then promptly started talking to Luke again.

"He wants to show us something," Luke said to them standing up to follow Artoo.

Artoo nodded his dome and zipped off down the hall to the back of the house and onto the closed deck that looked out onto the meadow and sunset.

"What's this all about Artoo?" Threepio asked.

Artoo stopped in the middle of the deck and then projected an image onto it, a video actually.

Everyone gasped as the image of Padmé and Anakin Skywalker came on with a minister standing behind them.

"That's Padmé," Sola said.

Leia looked at the scene struck speechless as she gazed at it.

"Leia," Luke said managing to retain his voice. "This is their wedding," he said as he watched them exchange vows and then kiss.

Luke paused as he felt Leia's emotions surge. It was a mixture of sadness and regret mixed with mostly overwhelming joy. He turned to look at her and almost didn't believe what he was seeing. Nothing could break through Leia's passive and intimidating mask except Luke, so he was more than a little shocked when he saw tears in her eyes and promptly fled the scene.

Luke followed her to their room where she was looking out the window.

"Leia Skywalker," Luke said in a teasing tone. "Are you crying?"

"Shut up," Leia said smiling as she wiped her eyes and Luke same to stand next to her.

"What's going through your head sis?" he asked putting an arm around her shoulder.

Leia returned the gesture and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed…"

"How?" Luke asked softly.

"It's just something. Two or three weeks ago I had no family and no idea where I came from. The only person I had any connection with was my best friend and then I find out my father's alive, you're my brother, my mother was a famous politician and her family is alive and well and then when I saw that video and saw how in love our parents looked and knowing that we were born out of such a loving union… It makes me happy and then it makes me sad. I thought I was alone in the galaxy for a long time and then to find out I'm not after going through the hell we both have been through… It's almost like I don't know what to feel," Leia finished. "Why did things have to turn out this way? I bet they were so excited when they found out we were coming."

Leia leaned her head on Luke's shoulder and then Luke lean his head on top of hers.

"Will of the force is all we can say isn't it? I don't suppose we'll ever know," Luke said and then smiled. "But I'm glad to know you have feeling. You can act a little like a sociopath sometimes."

"Luke!" Leia said.

"I'm serious," Luke said trying not to laugh at Leia's expression. "Your passiveness scares me sometimes. When we first met I seriously thought something was wrong with you."

Leia rolled her eyes. "If there was or is, can you truly blame me?"

"I never have princess," Luke said.

Artoo showing them the holo had sufficiently took the edge off of Luke and Leia's restlessness. And then next day when it was time to leave, they were kind of sad to leave now that they knew that their parents had gotten married there. Nonetheless, Luke and Leia headed to their aunts house in the _Amidala. _Just like she had promised, her backyard had sufficient space for them to park it and when Luke and Leia got out, Luke vowed that the first thing he was going to do when he had some free time was clean it of the mud still on it from Dagobah and repaint it.

It wouldn't be anytime soon though, because as soon as they were settled in the house, Sola called the local school and because they had missed so much school (Leia a lot more than Luke) they had to take a test to place them.

If Luke and Leia thought they had been spoiled on the lake retreat, then they were treated like royalty when they settled into their new home. Much to Luke and Leia's displeasure, their grandmother had seen fit to take them both shopping for a new wardrobe. Leia fought adamantly against the nice dresses and flowing skirts preferring jumpers, trousers, and blouses though Sola did manage to convince her to get two. Luke was much easier as he didn't really care what he wore though he seemed to have a strange fascination for black clothing ("Father rubbing off on you?" Leia asked). Eventually Sola agreed that if Luke got a few colorful outfits in addition to his black clothing, she would get Darred to take him to get supplies for the maintenance of the Amidala. However Luke then argued that he was perfectly capable of driving himself there if they let him borrow the speeder to which Pooja told him, to Luke's shock, that he needed a license ("I've flown a ship all around the galaxy and outrun the empire, and they tell me I need a license to drive 'legally'," Luke grumbled to Leia who only laughed).

Sola promised to take them to take care of that once they filed the legal guardian papers for them. For their protection, they would use the last name Naberrie. It had only taken the better part of a three weeks to get everything in order and then one day Sola walked into the room with the results from their school entrance exam.

"Well," she said to them. "You're a little behind on your math and science, but you passed your history and reading test and you're above average for that. So you'll be attending classes in your regular grade, but you have to bring your math and science grade up. Where did you learn so much history though? You're on a university level with that."

"We've been around the galaxy a few times," Luke replied exchanging a secret smile with Leia.

"And I read all the time," Leia added sitting up on her bed. "So when do we start?"

"The beginning of next week," Sola said. "Since you're twins they don't want you all to share classes so…"

"That's no big deal. A long as we're in the same building," Leia said to their aunt. It didn't matter where they were, with their bond they'd always come when they needed each other.

The weekend flew by and before they knew it, Luke and Leia were both reluctantly on their way to school. As they stood in front of the building Leia rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Great. A big old private school full of the children of high time imperial workers who think they're all that," she commented.

"Come on. Dad said the people of Naboo are good people. It won't be that bad," Luke said to her with a scowl.

"Dad's a sith lord and second in command to the empire. So are we talking his definition of good or ours?" Leia asked cynically.

Luke rolled his eyes and led the way into the school, Leia following closely behind him. Once Luke was sure Leia was settled in her classroom (she wouldn't let him come in and threaten anyone in case they decided to bother her) he went to his own first class. He immediately tensed up. He didn't have many fond memories of school back on Tatooine. Luke quite vividly remembered being bullied on a few occasions. In fact, Leia had been the only bright spot for him on Tatooine. He took a seat in the back hoping and praying to the force that when the teacher came in he wouldn't stand him up in the front of the class and introduce him.

"That's my seat," someone above him said.

Luke looked up and shrugged as he grabbed his bag.

"Sorry. Didn't see a name on it," Luke said sliding out the desk. He really didn't mind.

"Got a problem?" the older boy asked.

"Not at all," Luke responded wanting to avoid trouble at all costs. But that was too much to ask for him. His last name was Skywalker. "You?"

"You must be new here," he asked.

"Sure," Luke said.

"Then that means you don't know who I am."

"To be honest," Luke said sitting his chin on his hand, "I don't care. Feel free to introduce yourself if it's that important to you though."

As Luke replayed his words he saw what Leia meant when she said he spoke like their father sometimes.

Luke felt the tension rise in the classroom through the force, as well as the nervous apprehension. He looked up at the boy just in time to miss the book bag that he almost 'accidently' swung into his head.

"Watch out kid," he said sitting down.

"I'll remember that," Luke said suppressing a groan. He changed his mind. Leia was right. This was going to be horrible.

Since the teachers saw fit for them not to share classes, he didn't see his sister until lunch and when he saw her, to his surprise, she was in an upbeat mood.

"You were right," she said. "It won't be so bad. I met a few girls who said they would help me out if I needed it but it seemed like they needed more help from me than I needed from them in political science."

"Of course they would," Luke said not at all surprised. "You understand politics. Anything else?"

Leia shrugged. "Nothing unless you count that someone asked me out on a date."

"You said no right?" Luke asked alarmed.

"And if I said yes what are you going to do about it?" Leia asked with a teasing smile on her lips as they sat down.

"Leia! We don't even know these people. How do you know who this guy is? Where is he? I want to meet him," Luke said and then added, "And I'm telling father so he can do a full background check."

Leia rolled her eyes, amusement coming off of her in waves. "I told him I'd think about it. I was trying to be nice about it. Hopefully he took the hint."

"You trying to be nice about something?" Luke asked with a grin. "You've been on Naboo too long. Mom's family is starting to rub off on you."

"Our family Luke," Leia reminded and then scowled. "Or maybe he didn't take the hint…"

Luke looked up and groaned. "So that's the idiot who asked you out? I was just sitting in class and he started to bother me."

"Well," Leia said looking at him. "You aren't exactly the biggest guy among your peers. To be honest, I'd bully you too. You look like an easy target as far as appearances go…"

Luke glared at her. "Only you would put yourself into the mind of the bully," he said as the guy came up to them.

"Hello Jacob," Leia said politely.

"So have you thought about it?" he asked.

"Yeah," Leia said. "We're just getting settled into our new home. I don't have any time for dating right now."

Luke rolled his eyes. "In other words, never in a million years."

"Wasn't talking to you kid," Jacob said and did something Luke thought they only pulled in holomovies and dramas. He flipped his lunch tray over into his lap. Leia reacted way before Luke did.

"That wasn't necessary you idiot," she said standing up. "And if that's how you're going to treat my brother you can forget about ever going on a date, not that I was going to give you the time of day to begin with."

"He's your brother?" Jacob said shocked as he looked between the two.

Luke guessed her and Leia were going to get that a lot. They didn't really look alike on first glance. When Luke realized the boy was still standing there, he sighed. This guy was practically asking to be force pushed across the room.

"Yes he's my brother and I'd appreciate it if you stopped acting like Tatooine scum and apologized to him," Leia said her voice taking on a diplomatic tone that Luke rarely heard her use when they travelled in the outer rim. That was because they had long since come to understand that the only thing scum like that understood was a blaster to the head.

"Now listen," Jacob said touching Leia on the arm.

Leia jerked her arm back. "Don't touch me!"

"But wait," Jacob said trying to grab her arm so she wouldn't storm off.

"She said don't touch her," Luke said shoving him away from Leia.

"Wait a minute kid. I'm just trying to-."

A swift punch to the face knocked the boy out cold. Leia sighed as she stood over him shaking her head.

_You would think we wouldn't have to handle people here like we handle people in the outer rim, _Luke sent.

_I'm not really surprised. The bastards here are just a little more civilized and well dressed. Still cut out from the same molding. You didn't have to punch him though, _Leia replied as she gently tried to nudge the boy awake. _You really took him out Luke._

_I wasn't trying to punch him. It was just instinct. It's just easy to forget I'm not in the outer rim where you have to get people down for the count before they hit you,_ Luke sent.

Leia then looked up where a teacher came to investigate what was happening. _In any case, it looks like we're in huge trouble._

And they were. The principal called Sola for a meeting. Luke guessed punching someone out cold wasn't good for first impressions. As soon as Sola came into the office and greeted the principal, she began to speak on Luke and Leia's behalf.

"We have a strict non-violence policy and it can't be excused especially on their first day," the man said.

"That's not fair," Luke began. "We didn't start it. He came and messed with us. What did you want me and Leia to do? Sit there and take it like little-." Luke began to say a foul word for punk in huttese but Leia nudged him before he could say it shaking her head.

"You should have told an authority figure and let them deal with it. Violence is never the answer-."

"Give me a break," Luke interrupted. "I'm nowhere near inclined to believe that the stuff on holo-vision works. You people wouldn't last one day in-." Leia put her hand on Luke's arm to stop him from talking and then turned to the principal.

"If I may speak sir," she said tilting her chin up in confidence.

The principal exchanged a look with Sola and then nodded giving Leia the okay.

"Thank you," she said gratefully. "If I may ask sir. Do you have any children? A daughter or a son?"

"My son is a grown man-."

"That will due. Now, if my brother was your son at this age and someone picked a fight with him, would you want him to sit there and suffer in silence until he was able to go get an authority figure to handle the situation?" Leia asked in a wry tone.

"It would be the best way to handle the situation."

"Would it?" Leia asked smugly. "Sometimes a person doesn't have the time to wait on an authority figure to handle a situation. If the galaxy did that all the time we would be nowhere right now. And even so, is that what you would really want to teach your son? That when an obstacle or confrontation comes his way to walk away and let other people handle it? I don't think you would sir, because then he wouldn't learn to do things on his own and become independent. He'd rely on others to do things for him all the time according to what you're telling us to do. So although maybe my brother and I shouldn't have gone as far as to strike Jacob, I don't think you can truly blame us for it. We could have walked away and got an authority figure as you say, butJacob wouldn't allow us and either we sat there and took the abuse or took the matter into our own hands which what any great leader would have done," when the teacher began to protest, Leia said, "One of our own greatest queens did the same when she was unable to get help from the government during the blockade of Trade Federation and you hold her in high regard. Is this really any different?"

The principal paused and opened his mouth to talk before closing it again and leaning back to regard Leia. Heck, Luke was looking at Leia in awe himself. He always knew she could argue her point to anything, but it was usually with an angry and threatening undertone and a hand on her blaster to emphasize the point. The fact that she was perfectly calm, and stating her point, without raising her voice or twirling a blaster in her hands, was amazing to Luke.

"Perhaps you're right Miss Naberrie," he said. "But if you and your brother need to take a matter into your own hands again, could you at least refrain from knocking my students out cold."

"Our apologies for taking it to such an extreme measure sir," Leia said nodding her head. "And I hope you'll deal with Jacob so that my brother and I can avoid future confrontations with him in our educational career."

He nodded and dismissed them.

Luke was staring in awe at Leia long after that though and judging by her smugness, she knew it. He never knew she could be so eloquent. Then again, he guessed she had never been given the chance to do it because there was always the threat of someone trying to hurt them hanging over their head.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Sola bragged to the entire family about Leia's diplomatic negotiations with the principle for the rest of the week. Not only had she been impressed, but the entire Naberrie family and some of the staff in the school. Luke was glad Leia was finally receiving some attention for the better and not for her temper for once, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being pushed into her shadow a little. Academics and politics just wasn't his thing and he'd sooner fix on speeder all day long (he had already impressed Darred with his skills in that area after he stuck his hand in the engine adjusted some wiring and got the speeder working again, saving Darred a couple of hundred credits). However, he wasn't feeling like that for long because the teachers soon noticed his natural leadership skills and strategic (although still impulsive) abilities when the P.E teacher split the class into teams and Luke unknowingly took charge.

Within the month, Luke and Leia were reminded of how famous they were in the empire being so-called 'rebels', except this time they were getting noticed for reasons on the other end of the spectrum. Soon word got up to the queen through Pooja of their brilliance and to the twin's surprise, Pooja came home one day and announced that the queen had invited them to dinner to socialize with diplomats as her two special guest saying that youth like them were the future of Naboo.

_If only she knew who we really were, _Luke told Leia jokingly as Pooja led them to the throne room where Queen Kylantha was waiting to meet them.

Once they stopped, Leia immediately bowed before her and Luke did the same, taking his cues from her. Pooja bowed her head.

"You highness. These are my cousins, Luke and Leia."

Luke snapped his head to look at Pooja but Leia, having more composure than Luke did, simply waited for Pooja to explain.

"Naturally, I couldn't hide from the queen that the two of you were the children of Naboo's late senator. She had to right to know who you were. And I had to tell her something if you all wanted to keep your ship," Pooja said with a smile.

"Naturally I was surprised to find out that the two of you were the children of the queen who came before me and naturally you've been pardoned of any offense you may have done against us in the past," Kylantha said to them with the ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. "Besides, I'm sure your mother is glad that her ship got good use helping her children flee persecution all these years. You cannot be blamed for trying to protect your own lives. I can only be thankful that you made it back home to where you bother belong with your family and people by birthright."

"Thank you milady," Luke and Leia replied together. Leia had rehearsed with Luke the way to speak when in the company of the queen and though Luke had to wonder how Leia knew all these things, he took her word for it.

"The people of Naboo can expect great things from the two of you and that is why I have an important announcement to make in light of your academic achievements and character achievements after helping the galaxy for so long on your own despite what other people may have said about you. It takes great courage to do that," Kylantha commended.

The dinner was about as exciting as Luke expected it to be, meaning it was completely boring to him. He wasn't one for social gathering and had taken to standing near the refreshments table by himself (Leia mentioned to him telepathically that Vader did the same thing at social gatherings according to Pooja). But Leia looked like she was meant to attend these types of functions. She was right in her element among the delegates and different important political figures. But a closer look at her through the force showed that she was just putting up an act, being polite for the sake of the queen. No one there was truly intolerable lest they would have known it right off the bat, that or Leia was avoiding the ones she sensed she wouldn't like.

"Hello," someone said from behind him.

Luke jumped and turned around. "Winter!"

The Alderaanian princess frowned. "How do you know me?"

Luke started to reply and then it occurred to him that perhaps the eighteen year old didn't remember him from three years ago when he and Leia were on the planet. Good thing too. He didn't think she'd be too fond of the person that 'stole' her droids.

"Well of course I know you," Luke said trying to keep the nervousness out of his tone. "You're the princess of Alderaan. Everyone knows you."

Winter smiled. "True. What's your name? I've never seen you around before."

"Luke Sky- sorry," Luke said covering his mistake with a cough. "Luke Naberrie."

"Naberrie?" Winter asked. "I've never heard of a Luke being in their family."

"They adopted me and my sister into the family recently," Luke replied hoping he sounded convincing.

"That's right," she said. "Father told me you two. Says in the three or four months you've been here you've both been quite the fuss among the people of Naboo. The queen is especially impressed with how much you've both excelled after not having a formal education for so long."

"She told us as much," Luke replied as he sensed Leia coming up behind him. He smiled. She was tired of acting, ready to put on a jumpsuit and spar or something of the sort.

"Oh great Luke," she said obviously a little frustrated though she was trying to be polite. "I was worried all you were going to do was stand next to the refreshment table all night. Hello Princess Winter."

"Hi…"

"Leia," Leia replied.

Winter looked startled as she stared at Leia in surprise.

"Are you alright Winter?" Luke asked frowning at her sudden change in demeanor.

"Luke right," Leia agreed. "You look pale. Are you unwell?"

Winter shook her head. "I'm fine," she said. "Just a little light headed all of a sudden. I think I'll go let my father know. I may need to excuse myself."

Luke and Leia stared after her in confusion.

"What's her problem?" Leia asked dryly.

"I don't know. She was just fine a few minutes ago, before you came up," Luke said staring after her still. "It's like she saw a ghost or something."

Leia shrugged. "I'm just glad I'm not the princess of Alderaan. Those two buns on the side of her head look uncomfortable."

"Leia," Luke said though he laughed at her observation. She noticed the strangest things.

"Well it does. I'd sooner chop my hair off than wear those things," Leia replied.

Luke almost choked on his drink laughing at her comment. Leia cracked a smile although she was very serious about her observation and then the queen, who had been socializing with her guests, stepped up to her throne. Everyone turned to give them their full attention.

"Welcome guests. I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here for this celebration and you have no idea what I'm celebrating."

_Or why we were invited for that matter,_ Luke sent to Leia who hushed him replying that it was rude not give a speaker their undivided attention.

_How are they going to know we're talking to each other telepathically? _Luke asked her.

"As you all know I'm not married and I have no children, so I've been looking for a suitable heir to take my place as the ruler of Naboo when the time comes."

_I thought Naboo was a democratic monarchy,_ Luke asked Leia.

_It was only a temporary measure until the Naboo people could find a suitable family to take over the monarchy. They wanted mom to stay their queen but she was a firm believer in democracy. Queen Jamilla was unpopular and the next two queens were murdered. Queen Kylantha's been the queen since a little after the beginning of the empire. She's not the best queen they've had but certainly not the worst. So I guess they decided to let her be the ruling Monarchy family. The Naberries are actually descendant from a former royal Naboo family._

Luke nodded and continued to listen to Kylantha.

"However that task is easier said than done and for years I have yet to find someone who would be right to take up that role. But recently, a friend of mine brought to my attention some children that were excelling in their academics and creating a name for themselves after only being in school for a few weeks. They don't know it, but I've been watching them since she told me for the last few months and have come to a decision."

Luke and Leia exchanged a look. _She's not,_ they both sent.

"We have a new princess and prince as of tonight," she said.

_She is…_ Luke said.

"Princess Leia and Prince Luke Naberrie will be our future rulers," she ended.

All refinement they had been practicing that night left Luke and Leia as they both began to swear in huttese in their surprise, but no one noticed as they turned to look at them at them standing near the table.

Naturally, since they were the guest of honor, Luke and Leia couldn't leave until the banquet was over (actually, the celebration would last for much longer than just that night and the queen had already informed them of appearances they would be making in the next few weeks to introduce Naboo to their new prince and princess). But as soon as they were back home with their aunt, they made their way to their ship to the secure com their father had given them and contacted their father. They had not spoken to him much in the last few weeks being that he had been on a mission for the empire (something to do with the Death Star which they made clear to him they didn't agree with), but he had made them assure him that he would call them in the case of an emergency or something of dynamic proportions happened. Luke and Leia both believed that this counted.

"This had better be good," Vader said as soon as his image came up, but Luke and Leia weren't bothered by the seemingly cold greeting. He was probably just busy and underneath all of that, they could sense he was happy to hear from them… as happy as a sith lord could get anyway.

Luke and Leia weren't exactly full of joy and pleasantries when they contacted him either.

"Father," Luke said. "You won't believe what just happened."

"Try me," Vader said. He had learned to expect just about anything when it came to Luke and Leia in the last few weeks, especially after her found out they got into a fight on their first day in school.

"Queen Kylantha just named us the prince and princess of Naboo," Leia said to him.

Vader changed his mind. Of all things, he hadn't expected _that_. He knew they were the bizz of Naboo. And he had been quite pleased that his decision to send them to Naboo was working out. He had been right. A little structure and education was exactly what they had needed to flourish. Not that they hadn't been doing that before, but they weren't flourishing the way he wanted them to. Vigilantism and being able to outrun the empire were not his ideas of flourishing, not properly anyway. On some level, some level deep down inside of him, that did bring him pride. But he would never admit that to Luke and Leia. They would only use it as an excuse to cause trouble.

"And?"

"Well of course we couldn't refuse her," Leia replied. "We just thought you should know."

"And good you informed me," Vader said as he began to calculate this into his plans to take over the empire. This certainly gave Luke and Leia a good position to be informants for him and no doubt they'd run into people who were apart of the rebel alliance. "We can use this to our advantage in the future. I have a job in mind for you two, but for now play the part of a prince and princess."

"Dad," Luke said quietly. "I don't like the idea of spying on people or being undercover. Me and Leia have done a lot of things but we aren't traitors."

"You're only a traitor if you were officially affiliated with a group in the first place. You both know your loyalties lie somewhere else to begin with," Vader replied.

Luke and Leia were silent. Where did their loyalties lie? Up until now, it lied with themselves, but now they had to pick a side.

"I'm telling you now Vader," Leia said first. "We don't believe in the empire, not like it is anyway. Call us more imperial idealist. But if this plan of yours makes the galaxy worse off than it already is you can count us out."

"We're not against you," Luke said. "But we don't care about political games and saving face. We're with you, but we want to stay true to ourselves."

"What are saying?" Vader asked carefully.

"Exactly what we're saying," Leia said. "In any case, we'll keep our eyes and ears open."

With that Luke and Leia cut the connection.

"From fugitives, to a prince and princess all in a few weeks," Luke said.

"Life certainly won't be dull," Leia muttered.

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_In the next chapter, Luke and Leia are less than pleased when Queen Kylantha decides to throw them a birthday party. Couldn't they just take the Amidala somewhere and not act like a prince and princess? They're bored and when Leia expresses this to the queen, she gives her something she hadn't exactly bargained for: a handmaiden. But there's something off about her. Perhaps she's a spy. It's the most excitement Luke and Leia have had in a year in any case though…_

Okay I loved writing this chapter. I know it moved kind of fast, but this story is not intended to give a play by play of Luke and Leia settling into Naboo, therefore it had to be summarized to get to what I wanted to get to. The thing about the Naboo monarchy is true. I did research on it and speaking of research. Guess what people! I get to do an essay on Star Wars! Oh my God! See my teacher gave a project on identity, self creation, and what defines self and told us to use whatever text we want. The topics are due Wednesday and I was going to send mine in but I'm so glad I didn't because my classmate mentioned star wars today and I'm like… Oh DUH! If there is any story that fits that topic it is star wars and I'm going to do a project about how self changes and yet stays the same using Anakin Skywalker! I'm so excited. Heck, the essay is practically written in my fanfics! I'm actually excited about this. This means I get to do an analysis of how Anakin went from good to evil using the prequels! Oh HELL YEAH! This may skyrocket my average to an A in this class. Yes, yes, yes! I wish my teacher would just let me turn in my Dark Ahsoka series though. I think I did an alright job of turning a person from good to evil and back again but alas, she won't. But this is going to be good.

Anyway, remember to **Go to my profile!** I have an announcement to make. You don't have to is you don't want to but I'd appreciate it if you did.

As always, Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!


	6. Leia's Handmaiden

You know, I remember starting this story about four months ago (I can't believe it's been that long) and I didn't know it would get so popular. I love reading the reviews for this. They make me want to finish this even more and they give me ideas and feedback on what I can do to make it better. Anywho, I won't keep you because I know a lot of people are looking forward to this one. And the emperor makes his first appearance. Read, enjoy, and review!

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**Chapter Six**

**Leia's Handmaiden**

Vader had to think he was stupid… Palpatine frowned. No, Vader wasn't one to underestimate anyone, least of all the emperor. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try to fool him. Something was amiss and Palpatine was positive it had something to do with the prince and princess of Naboo.

The sith master had to admit the rise of the twin siblings had been a surprise, even to him. The two appeared out of nowhere, orphans that were adopted into a prominent family on Naboo, Padmé Amidala's family no less, sent to school and excelled, gaining the attention of the queen who was looking for a suitable heir and were named the new prince and princess of his home planet. It was all a story right out of a holofilm.

It wouldn't have been so suspicious if the two force sensitive children that even his radar couldn't pinpoint long enough for capture hadn't conveniently left the scene then. In almost a year, there had been no disturbances from the two children and the fact that Vader seemed unconcerned about it disturbed Palpatine. Vader was definitely up to something and the prince and princess of Naboo had something to do with it.

He called his hand to him telepathically and waited for her to come to him.

"Yes my master," she said bowing to him.

"I have a mission for you my hand," Palpatine said. "One that I can only trust you to do."

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Life was dull. And Luke and Leia knew that no party, even one that was just for them, was going to change that anytime soon, which was the reason they were protesting the party the queen was planning for them.

"Really milady," Leia said to the queen. "This isn't necessary."

"Yeah," Luke said. "We'd be happy if you gave us extended leave for a week and let us go wherever we wanted in the Amidala."

"Nonsense," Kylantha said to the two. "It's your birthday. We can't go without celebrating it properly."

Leia fought back the urge to roll her eyes. With all the money they were about to spend on one birthday party for her and Luke, they could feed an entire starving planet for weeks.

Luke on the other hand hated the social gatherings and to be honest, no one would know he was a prince since he didn't act like it. Leia was obviously the princess. She was practically meant to be a princess. She fit into the role so well it was uncanny, but even she put up more of an act than anything. Both of them had become bored with life on Naboo. Sure it had been a good experience at first, but then as they settled into a routine, they began to miss going wherever they wanted on the Amidala, making a difference on planets even at the cost of angering the empire or the rebel alliance. They felt trapped. What was the point of having this power if all they did was sit on a throne read reports, tell other what to do, and throw banquets all the time?

The most excitement they had in the last year was finding out that Kylantha secretly sympathized with the rebel alliance while putting on a front of supporting the empire.

"Must we?" Leia asked sighing.

"The invitations are already gone," Kylantha stated.

"Did it ever occur to you that we might want to invite our own friends?" Luke asked irritated.

"But I know all your friends," Kylantha said. "You two don't worry about anything. Just have a good time."

_That's the point! Their idea of a good time is far from ours. Besides, I rather hang out with Han than a bunch of stuck up dignitaries who think they're so much better because they have a title, _Luke sent to Leia.

Leia nodded in agreement as the two left Kylantha's quarters to return to their own. Leia sighed and pulled her hair out of the elaborate braiding she had worn for the day and pulled out a more casual outfit from the closet. Luke went to his own room in their apartment suite and grabbed a toolbox. He had never gotten into dressing up during the day no matter how much the Queen tried to persuade him.

"Where are your handmaidens?" Luke asked when she was out, her hair in two braids over her shoulders.

"Kylantha's handmaidens," Leia corrected. I dismissed them for the day. I'm tired of being pampered like a princess."

"We should just take off again," Luke said.

"Or we can just go visit the Amidala," Leia said. "Artoo, Threepio are you coming."

Artoo made a distant reply that they translated into a no and since Threepio didn't answer, they assumed he was doing something with Artoo. Luke and Leia made their way out the suite and into the palace hanger where the Amidala was docked. They both went straight to the cockpit where Luke sat in his usual pilot chair and Leia said next to him as the co-pilot chair.

"I miss this," Leia said staring out the window. "I'd trade life as a princess any day to go back to being fugitives."

"Me too," Luke said staring with her as they both sighed.

They weren't happy, content yes, but not happy. It had been a whole year on Naboo without flying their ship anywhere or being chased by bounty hunters. In other words increasingly dull. Leia would have thought there was more they could do as a power head on Naboo, but it was nothing but a status. She should be travelling to the different villages and cities on Naboo, setting up better educational institutes for the less fortunate, and helping orphans, not sitting behind a desk and letting others do it. And even if she could do it, the empire was a very fickle thing. Too much activity and the emperor would pay a little visit to Naboo and question her loyalty. Didn't she think the institutions they had set up were sufficient for her people? Then they would take both her and Luke into custody over some false charge of treason and… it wasn't going to end well for someone either way, therefore anymore missions like that were out.

Luke was feeling the same way as Leia except he was more restless from literally being grounded. Racing through the streets of Naboo just wasn't the same as maneuvering the Amidala to outrun the empire or race off some planet as fast as he possibly could without crshing. Not to mention, the people of Theed didn't appreciate his reckless endeavors. Even their aunt didn't understand Luke and Leia's restlessness. They should have their hands full with all their duties and schooling. The only thing that kept Luke and Leia from losing their mind though was their secret force training from their father. It was odd learning the force long distanced. It was like watching an exercise video and trying to mimic the movements or listening to an audio. Luke was sure they'd be much farther along in their force learning if they could do it face to face with their father without all the added responsibilities on Naboo and having to practice in secret.

"That's it," Luke finally said sitting up.

"What?" Leia asked looking over at him.

Luke leaned on and turned on the com of the ship in frustration.

"Luke what are you doing?"

"I'm calling father," he said determined.

"For what?" Leia asked sitting up. Neither of them was ever quick to call Vader or anyone for that matter when they wanted something. They were practically forced to grow up and take care of themselves at a young age. Their peers didn't understand why they were so independent and always making decisions for themselves without maybe consulting their aunt or even the Queen sometimes.

"I can't take this anymore Leia. If I stay on Naboo any longer, I'll drive myself crazy," Luke said.

"What if he's on a mission Luke? We can't just call him up on a whim like this. We could jeopardize his mission."

"He's not on a mission. He's on Coruscant," Luke replied snappily. "Besides, this is getting to us Leia. It's bothering you more than it's bothering me."

Leia could attest to that. A few weeks ago, she had the first nightmare she'd had in almost six months. It could only mean she was feeling trapped again, and Luke was worried about her dark brooding moods lately much to Leia's annoyance. But it had merit. This was like the last days of being on Tatooine again. Both of them had been tired of the life she lived and their life in general. Her master trying to sell her was just the event that made them both snap (and necessarily so). It was only a matter of time before someone did something to set them both off again if they didn't find an outlet for their restlessness.

"I'm glad you called. I was just about contact you," Vader said when his voice came through the com.

"Well whatever it is can wait," Luke said surprising Vader and spurring his temper a little. But Luke didn't care. This was long overdue and with their birthday coming up and the Queen throwing them a party they didn't even want (birthdays were all about pleasing the one who was having a birthday), Luke was more than a little frustrated about the situation. He was angry in fact and if the anger hadn't been directed toward Vader, he would have been thrilled that he was finally lashing out in his anger even on such a small level. Luke was very much like his mother. It took him forever to get angry and it made an almost impossible task of showing him how to use the dark side.

"We're tired of this father. You sent us here on this planet hoping that we'd be more cooperative and feel better about this whole situation, but we're not! We're kriffing bored out of our minds. We're trapped. Sure we're not doing backbreaking labor in the hot sun all day and no one is after us, but we're just as trapped in this palace and going to school with all these stang restrictions on how to act, what to say, how to dress. We're being turned into lying politicians!" Luke exclaimed.

Leia sighed. "Luke calm down."

Vader was surprised. It was usually Luke who was trying to placate Leia when she called him in frustration about something. Leia would be the ideal dark side user. She would lash out in her emotions in a minute, but even then not as much as Vader wanted. She fought with more passion and aggression, but it was never dark.

"I won't calm down Leia. This is getting old," Luke declared. "I don't know what your plan for us is, but you better get on with. We agreed to help you but all you've succeeding in doing is keeping us from ruining and disrupting the so-called peace of your kriffing empire! Is that what you wanted all along?"

"Anything else," Vader said really wanting to reach through the com and smack his son.

"Yeah," Luke muttered. "What do you want?"

"You called me if I recall and what I'm going to tell you may placate your frustrations. However, I'm wondering if you're ready for it considering your outburst," Vader shot.

Luke ran a hand through his hair and muttered, "Sorry."

Vader paused for a moment and then continued. "I noticed that it has almost been a year since you both arrived on Naboo and you have both made substantial progress in your studies. Therefore I have a job of sorts for you that will begin to get out plan into action."

"Just say it already," Leia said.

"Not now," Vader said gravely. "There are spies everywhere and even this secure communications isn't secure enough. I will talk to you when I see you face to face."

"Face to face," Leia said crossing her arms. "When will that be? We haven't seen you in almost a year."

"I have already arranged it," Vader said curtly. "Just be on alert. I have a feeling that the emperor has grown suspicious of you. Be careful of when you use the force and how you use it, as well as the people you trust. The emperor has the most unsuspecting spies, especially his hands."

Luke shuddered. "We know. We had the pleasure of coming across one once. It wasn't a good experience…"

"All the more reason for you to be on high alert. There's something in the force. I can't pinpoint it right now, but there is going to be a critical turning point in our plans soon. It may be for the better or for worse."

"When it comes to us, that means someone is going to try and kill us again," Leia said dryly but with a hint of excitement in her tone.

"Then that should suffice to relieve you of some of your restlessness for the time being," Vader said and Luke nor Leia could figure out whether he was being sarcastic or serious. "Until then, do not try to contact me again and stay out of trouble."

"There is no trouble on Naboo. That's why we're so bored," Luke pointed out but Vader had already cut the connection. Luke groaned before getting up and starting out the cockpit.

"Where are you going?" Leia asked him in concern. When Luke was like this, he became reckless. Leia on the other hand just got angry. They hadn't quite figured out which one was worse, but Leia figure her being snappy and moody all day was much less life threatening than doing something potentially dangerous.

"Go riding on a swoop bike," Luke grumbled.

"Luke the last time you did that-."

"I'm going out to the open fields. Relax. Besides, since when have you ever cared about the rules or pleasing others," Luke asked.

"I don't to be honest," Leia replied and Luke huffed.

"Well you don't act like it anymore princess," he said and left.

Leia started to follow Luke and call him back to her to explain exactly what he meant, but he was already gone. She fell back in her seat and leaned her head on her hand. She knew exactly what Luke meant. He was trying to say that she had changed herself in effort to act the part of the perfect princess. Leia didn't really think she had changed herself, but the act of being a princess had just suppressed it a little, though her feisty rebellious attitude did pop up on occasion, particularly a few months ago when Governor Tarkin had come to Naboo. All acts of being polite and refined left her. She didn't like him and she made sure he knew it. Leia hadn't cared at all what impression he got from the Naboo people. She didn't agree with Tarkin's principals and if she had to be sarcastic, blunt, and harsh to get across to him the definition of justice, that had been how she was going to do it.

But Luke was right, she had become much more subdued in the last year. But he didn't know how much she wanted to abandon her princess garb grab a blaster and blast her way off of Naboo. Most people would say that she had it all and if she told them her background of being a slave, news reporters would have a field day. She could see the cover now, _From Slave to Princess: Leia Amidala Nabberie._ But to be honest, she had just gone from a much more brutal form of it to a much more dignified form. She felt so trapped. She didn't want to be loose or anything, but she just wanted the freedom to be herself and say things how she wanted to say them or travel somewhere at the forefront of war without being judged and scrutinized for it.

She smiled to herself as she thought of the old saying. Stick and stones breaks bones but words never hurt… That was a lie. If she compared getting beatings to judgmentalism and gossip, she'd rather take a beating. Wounds eventually healed, but words never went away. In fact, this form of feeling trapped was worse than being back on Tatooine because the taste of freedom, the light of liberty, was so close. It was just dancing over her head and it was just out of her reach again. Being a princess wasn't freedom.

Leia got up and started back to her room deciding to grab a blaster and follow Luke to wherever he went. She decided to go to Kylantha first though, just to tell her where she was going and not to send anyone looking for her, but the woman wouldn't have it.

"Come on. We'll be in a wide open field flying bikes. You can't tell me that's dangerous."

"It's more dangerous than you travelling the city. You'll be alone and anything can happen out there and no one will be there to witness it," she said.

"Me and my brother took care of ourselves just fine before we got to Naboo and we can do it again. You'd be surprised the things we've seen and done. In fact, it just might give you nightmares," Leia responded trying to control her anger, but that was a hard feat when she was trying to make sure she didn't raise her voice as well. She still had to be respectful.

"I understand your frustrations Leia, but we have to think about not only yourself, but the Naboo people as a whole," Kylantha said placing a hand on her shoulder. "How about this? I just interviewed a girl to become a new handmaiden. She's fresh out of the training and this would be a good and easy opportunity for her to get accustomed to the position. Why not let her go with you?"

Leia frowned. "What do we need new handmaidens for?"

"Because there hasn't been a new royal heir for years and usually when a queen was elected, new handmaidens were trained for her. Last year when you and your brother became the prince and princess, I took the liberty of getting new ones trained around your age," Kylantha said.

"For what?" Leia asked. "To be my bodyguards. Your handmaidens will do me just fine."

Kylantha smiled and patted the place next to her on the couch in her quarters.

"Leia, a handmaiden isn't just a bodyguard or your decoy in the case that the threat to your life is that drastic. A handmaiden is also your best friend. Remember that. Don't be upset by how constricting you think this life is or frustrated that you have the play your part of satisfying the emperor. You do have friends Leia. More than just your brother, you just have to open yourself up to see it. And your first personal handmaiden will help you in doing that," Kylantha said and then called to another room off to the right of her quarters.

Out came a girl dressed in the standard red robes of a handmaiden with her hands folded into her sleeves. The first thing Leia noticed about her was her striking red hair and passive expression. She didn't seem at all nervous or scared. In fact, Leia found out through the force, she wasn't. Leia found it odd. Either this girl was strangely overconfident or something was off about her…

"Leia, this is Jade," Kylantha introduced. "Jade, princess Leia."

"It is an honor to serve you milady," the girl said in what Leia thought was a very rehearsed and unfeeling tone.

Leia searched the force again and indeed found the girl to be confident, so much to the point of arrogance. Leia crossed her arms as she regarded the girl. She was hard to read.

"Nice to meet you," Leia said in a cool tone.

"A little hair dye and she can be your decoy soon Leia. Why don't you two get acquainted? I think your plan to find Luke is the perfect way to do so Leia," Kylantha said. "You're both dismissed."

Leia stood up and started out the room, her new handmaiden following her and then coming up to walk in step next to her.

"You're going to have to get changed," Leia said to her.

"For what?" Jade said again with no emotion in her tone.

Leia raised her eyebrow. "Who trained you? Aren't you supposed to talk all pleasant and like you're interested in what your princess has to say? You know? Be nice because I'm your princess?"

"Is that what you want me to do?" Jade asked in the same tone.

"No I don't," Leia said to Jade's surprise. "For all you know I could be a spoiled brat who needs a few good cutting comments and I'm under the impression that you probably wouldn't care at all who I was, would you?"

Jade paused for a moment and Leia could tell she was trying to decide whether to be honest with her and risk getting fired on her first day or lie and keep her job.

"No," she finally replied. "I wouldn't."

Leia paused to gauge in Jade was lying or not and then smiled, Jade's surprise at the gesture evident.

"Hm. I like you," Leia said and nodded her head. "Come on. You have to get changed. You can't ride a swoop bike with that on."

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Luke grinned in anticipation and excitement as she sped through the field headed straight for a large tree that stood in his way. If he crashed into it, he could very well kill himself, but the thought excited him much more than it scared him, if it scared him at all. At the last moment he made a sharp right turn to avoid the tree and laughed at the rush that came over him, but it wasn't enough. He needed the bike to be faster, his path to be more dangerous like on Tatooine or better yet, he needed to be in the Amidala outrunning bounty hunters and slave traders making a quick jump to hyperspace that no other ship could possibly try to follow lest they explode because they didn't have the personal modifications and maneuverability his ship did (there could have been even more if he had let Han have his way with the ship a few years ago but Luke wanted the _Amidala_ to look the part it had been when he stole it from Naboo if not better).

He groaned in frustration and stopped his bike in case he lost his temper and then his concentration in the process. A few months ago, when they had first started getting restless, his father told him it was because of their force sensitivity. At first, Luke had no idea what Vader meant, but now, as the urge to do something got increasingly stronger, Luke knew. Having sensitivity to the force made almost nothing impossible to him even if he couldn't access that potential of his power yet. He needed to do more than sit in a palace all day. He needed be out in space making an impact on the galaxy with his own hands, doing things that would shake and shape the very history of the galaxy. It was the reason that although, a year ago, he and his sister had been on the run and doing what they could, they were happy with their life. They didn't need material things and large palaces.

Luke made a mental note to apologize to his father later. It wasn't his fault. Well in a sense It was since Luke and Leia inherited their force sensitivity from him, but there was only so much he could do to help them if he wanted them to be safe from the emperor until they were properly trained and able to take care of themselves. Now the emperor… Luke could blame him.

Then two swoop bikes pulled up next to his and Luke watched as Leia pulled off her helmet and said, "You done already? I wanted to race you."

Luke shrugged. "Not yet. We can still race. I'm just trying not to get angry."

Leia nodded and Luke looked past her at the person getting off of the third swoop bike. She took off her helmet and her red hair fell out of it.

"Who's she?" he asked as the girl came to stand next to Leia.

"Luke, Jade. Jade, Luke," Leia said.

"But who is she?" Luke asked warily

Leia started to reply but then Jade spoke up.

"I'm standing right here," she said.

Luke glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well?"

"I'm your sister's new handmaiden," she said.

"A handmaiden?" Luke asked looking Jade over. There was something about this girl that unnerved him a little.

"Yeah. Kylantha hired her for me," Leia said. "I think you two will get along."

Luke shrugged and held out his hand to her. "Nice to meet you,"

Jade looked down at Luke's hand. So far, this mission wasn't proving to be very eventful. This girl, Leia had incredible shields, but Mara couldn't leave it to a fluke because she felt the girl trying to probe her earlier. She had training.

"I suppose," she said.

Luke put his hand down and muttered, "Just trying to be nice." He turned to Leia. "Ready to race?"

Leia nodded and put on her helmet getting on her bike. Meanwhile, she noticed Jade stay where she was with her arms crossed.

"You can race too," she said getting her bike started.

Mara looked at her startled. She had worked undercover for a lot of people and never had anyone invited her to have fun with them, not that she knew the meaning of fun. She didn't have time for frivolity. Yet the princess and prince of Naboo were right here inviting her to join them and they didn't seem to have a problem with getting dirty. They were nothing like she expected. What threat could the two of them be when it seemed they were more interested in racing that anything else? However, she didn't question her master's judgment. If he said they were a threat then that's what they were.

She shook her head and Leia rolled her eyes. "I won't have you standing there watching us. Get on."

"See those mountains?" Luke asked them and they nodded. "Not as dangerous as some of the canyons on Tatooine, but it'll work."

Leia looked at Luke skeptically. "You sure she'll be able to keep up in that kind of terrain?" she asked referring to her new handmaiden.

"Who said she has to keep up?" Luke said and then out of nowhere, Jade took off. He glared. "Hold on a minute you cheat!"

Luke followed after her and Leia took off closely behind him. She had a feeling this wasn't going to end well.

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To say that Luke was in a foul mood by the time they were back at the palace was an understatement and it was the same for Leia's new handmaiden. Leia herself didn't know whether she should be laughing or trying to mediate the disagreement between the two. It was rare, extremely rare, for anyone to irk Luke so much he was put in a bad mood. Leia was baffled at first, until she noticed something.

"You cheater," Jade snapped.

"I didn't cheat. And it wasn't my fault you lost kriffing control over your bike. And you're the one who cheated in the first place," Luke shot back.

"Whining over a slight head start?" she asked.

"No, but you just pointed out that I was cheating."

"Whatever, but would you mind telling me what that was you pulled back there?" Jade asked.

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked calming down.

"That… That flip or whatever you did back there when you… when you…"

"Saved you," Luke said smugly.

Leia laughed at her handmaiden's expression. Luke had in fact saved her, much to Jade's displeasure. Their race had gotten a little out of hand, especially since Luke could drive at dangerously high speeds without killing himself. Jade, in her attempt to keep up with him sped up to follow him. Leia who had been trailing behind her brother felt the warning in the force as soon as Jade pulled up next to Luke. Not even Leia had the reflexes Luke had thanks to his force ability. So she wasn't surprised when it looked like Jade was starting to lose control. In the end, Leia had to pull up on the other side of the girl at the same speed (which she could only maintain for a short while) and guide her bike through the canyon.

Unfortunately, Jade was stubborn and pulled from between them, nearly killing herself if it weren't for Luke, who in an impulsive and reckless act of bravery (or maybe stupidity. Leia was sure that's what Vader would say) stood on his seat and jumped into the air onto Jade's speeder. Otherwise, Jade would have killed herself, or be critically injured one.

"Whatever," Jade grumbled. "Anyway, you looked something like a jedi or something."

Luke raised an eyebrow at her. A few months ago, he probably would have frozen in his spot, but instead he crossed his arms.

"And what about you? That was some pretty neat trick with that chain," Luke said to her referring to when she had pulled a chain off the bike when the brakes failed, hooked it around a knife and wedged it up high into a mountain wall so they could jump off the bike. "It takes some skill to throw a knife like that."

"It was part of my handmaiden training," Jade snapped.

Luke shrugged. "No handmaiden is that accurate. If you asked me, it looked like you could have been the jedi back there with that kind of aim. That or you're a trained assassin," Luke said glaring at her on the last word.

"And how would you know that?" Jade asked.

"What can I say? I watch a lot of holo-movies," Luke replied.

Leia sighed and stepped between the two. "It was a coincidence and nothing more. It just shows that there was a higher power at work and on our side today. Now please. Jade, why don't you go get cleaned up and take the rest of the day off. There will be no more adventures for us today."

Jade nodded her head to Leia, glared at Luke, and then went to her quarters.

When Luke was sure she was out of earshot, Luke said to Leia, "There's something off about your new handmaiden."

"You think I don't already know that?" Leia asked. "There's something about her, but I like her in any case."

Luke stopped. "You like that girl? She's got a worse attitude problem than a krayt dragon."

"Yeah. I figured that out when she pushed you earlier for trying to help her," Leia said with a smirk. "But that's why I like her. She doesn't seem to be the one to bite back words."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Figures. Kylantha knew what she was doing when she gave her to you then. But I don't trust her. That thing with the knife was too accurate. I think she's force sensitive."

"That's what it was!" Leia said snapping her finger. "I tried to probe her earlier but I couldn't get all the way through her shields and there was something off, but Kylantha wanted me to be nice so I didn't ask her."

"That a little too coincidental if you ask me," Luke said.

"Then why…" Leia started and then trailed off.

"What?"

Leia shook her head. "Nothing. So since we both agree there's something off about Jade, the question is do we let her know we're onto her?"

Luke sat on the couch in their suite in contemplation before Leia yanked him off of it because he was so dirty.

"Maybe we should. It might scare her off," Luke suggested.

Leia shook her head. "No. We can't or we risk her reporting back to her employer. So until we can safely expose her, we should act like we're none the wiser until we can figure who she works for and why she's here."

Luke nodded in agreement. But Leia put her hands on her hips and said, "And do try to get along with her in the mean time."

"It wasn't me who started it. Tell that to her," Luke said.

However the rest of the week they were so busy getting ready for Luke and Leia's birthday party that Jade had no time to start anything with Luke as she was helping Leia tend to her duties and greet the guests that started to arrive in the following days. Many of them were from off planet and so the extra rooms of the palace were going to good use.

But Luke just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to Jade than she let on. Leia knew the same, but there wasn't much she could do to prove that the girl was a spy since Jade was with her all the time. It only gave her time to observe. Leia noticed she wasn't anything like Kylantha's handmaidens. While Kylantha's handmaidens were friendly to her and her best friends, Jade was cold, did her job and avoided unnecessary words.

Leia acted like she didn't care, but she had always craved female companionship, something she lacked for years now. No one could replace her brother. He was her rock, but it would be nice to have another girl to talk to. The fact that Jade didn't return her attempts to be a little more casual and friendly just proved that she was a spy, a sociopath, or both. If she was a spy, she was making it painfully obvious to Leia. Then again, one could say being extremely friendly was a sign that a person was a spy.

Luke however had more flexibility as he watched Jade. Maybe he was just bored and that's why he was picking up something wrong from the girl. Perhaps he just wanted to find something wrong with her to give him a reason for adventure. But Luke had thought about those things and had even meditated on it. Jade was working for someone and there was no way around it.

He stealthily (or at least as much as he could) followed her back to her quarters one day. Jade closed her door and Luke cursed. Now how was he supposed to hear her? Luke looked up to the ceiling and grinned when he saw the air ducts. Luke looked around and then grasped the door with the force, pushing it aside. Then carefully, as not to alert Jade, he used the force to jump into the vents and tiptoed toward the opening to Jade's room. She was talking to someone, but the strange thing was, Luke couldn't hear the other person or see a com or holo of anyone. It was strange…

"They appear to be very talented in the force and though it appears they do have some training, it is mostly raw power that they manage to channel sometimes," she said barely above a whisper.

There was a pause and then Jade muttered. "I'm not sure. They haven't mentioned it although it's apparent there are some things that are just between them."

Luke paused and then it dawned on him how Jade was talking. She had a telepathic link with someone. He and Leia sometimes had the tendency to say things out loud to each other when they did that, but only when they were alone. He might tell her something mentally and she'd respond back telepathically, but said it under her breath at the same time.

Luke narrowed his eyes. Either Jade had a force twin they didn't know about or she was talking to her force sensitive employer, but who was strong enough to connect with her across the galaxy.

"I agree. We can't take any chances… Yes master," she said and then stopped.

Luke almost cursed out loud. That kind of response could only mean one thing. She wasn't just spying on them anymore. She was trying to kill them. But who called their employee Master?

Luke jumped back on instinct when he felt the warning as the covering to the duct was pulled away and a deadly accurate blaster shot whizzed past him.

"Stang," Luke muttered and took off in the other direction of the vents.

"Who's there?" he heard Jade call as she too had jumped in the ducts. Luke jumped out the ducts where he came in, hastily using the force to put the cover back on before taking off down the hall in a force induced run.

Luke was rounding the corner to his and Leia's suite when he slammed into Leia and both of them fell backwards.

"Stang Luke. That hurt," she muttered and then looked up at Luke in concern. "What's wrong? You were all panicky."

Luke stood up and picked Leia up guiding her to their suite. "I'll explain in here. Come on."

Luke closed the door and said, "It's jade. She's-."

In walked Jade with two of Kylantha's other handmaidens. Luke would never understand why it took three people and four hours to get her ready. Luke sighed and backed away. Why didn't he get servants or something (not that he wanted them as he was perfectly content to get himself ready)? As they led Leia away, he met eyes with Jade who sneered and continued on to help Leia.

_What is it? _Leia asked.

Luke went into his room to get ready. _Don't trust Jade. I think she's a spy. Whoever her employer is, I think he wants her to kill us._

Luke felt Leia tense a little, but otherwise she remained relaxed and passive as not to alert her handmaidens, particularly Jade.

_What makes you think that?_

_She was talking to her boss telepathically. I think they're force sensitive. Anyway she said something about a threat and then finally said 'yes master'. Besides, I can feel it,_ Luke sent.

_Master? _Leia asked. _That's odd…_

_Why?_

_Because… remember when we talking to father about the hands of the emperor earlier this week? Don't they call the emperor Master? Doesn't father call him master?_

_You don't think…_

_She just might be a hand. Dad told us to watch out for them. Might explain how indifferent she is and why she just does her job and watches people._

_And that would also explain why she asked about how I did that flip when I saved her, _Luke replied.

_Makes sense, _Leia said.

_Leia, don't take your eyes off of her, _Luke warned.

Leia nodded from the other room as they both continued to get ready. The party was about as much as they expected it to be: everything they hadn't wanted. Luke always imagined what it would be like if he was ever given a birthday party being that he never had one, but whatever his dream was the party Kylantha had given them wasn't it. He started to do what he normally did at parties like this and wandered to the punch table before he sensed Leia's surprise. He looked around the room where she was standing talking to Mon Mothma. She had paused halfway through talking and was staring past Mothma. Luke followed her line of direction and his eyes landed on the last person they expected to be at an event like this.

_Father? _Luke sent to Leia.

Leia sent a mental shrug. She was just as baffled as Luke was. Vader didn't even acknowledge them though as Bail Organa greeted him in passing and then Kylantha went up to him with her handmaidens. A few moments later Kylantha beckoned them over and Leia politely excused herself from Mon while Luke headed right over.

"Luke, Leia," Kylantha said. "I don't believe you've been formally acquainted with Lord Vader."

_She'd be surprised,_ Luke sent to Leia who had to stifle a laugh as she bowed to Vader.

"It's an honor to meet you," Leia said for both of them.

"I hope I'll be able to say the same," Vader said in a typical response of his.

"With all due respect sir," Leia said to Vader with a small smirk. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"It's my duty to ensure that you and your people's loyalty rest with the empire in light of your coming of age," Vader replied. "Believe me, if it weren't for the fact that the emperor could not be in attendance, I would not be here. So don't flatter yourself."

It was a well known fact that Vader lacked diplomacy and didn't cut words or be polite for that matter. Luke tried not to smile a little but instead connected to the connection he had with Vader, the one he rarely touched, and said, _You know you wanted to come._

Vader didn't respond and Leia said to him, "Perhaps we should go and get some fresh air Lord Vader."

Vader nodded and Leia led them outside onto the steps that led out to the garden. When they were there, Luke let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought we would never find an excuse to get out of there," he said.

"I know," Leia said crossing her arms. "I almost slapped one of those princes Kylantha invited."

"Would have done well for your public image," Luke joked and then looked at Vader.

It was still rather odd to have him for a father, especially since they rarely saw him in person. This was probably only the third time in the last year that they had seen him face to face. Nonetheless, Luke and Leia were comfortable around him even though he was a little uptight, always correcting them on their language and manners, Luke more than Leia. But Luke sometimes found it to be a little hypocritical being that Vader never tried to restrain himself in certain respects. That is that's how Luke saw it until he and Leia figured out that Vader only did so because he thought that's what their mother would have done. Luke mentally sighed on that one. He had never quite gotten the courage to ask Vader about choking their mother. At first he had been angry about until Leia pointed out that the jedi had a way of twisting the truth and said that he should get Vader's side of the story even though she agreed Luke had the right to be angry even if Vader had a somewhat reasonable explanation for it. Luke rolled his eyes. Ever the wary one but willing to give Darth Vader the benefit of the doubt…

"You all are both very popular among the people of Naboo," Vader pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't see why. All we do is sit in a palace all day and look pretty," Leia muttered.

"Which brings me to the real reason I'm here. It's time I begun to get you fully involved in the plan to take over the empire. Unfortunately, we cannot do so until we crush the rebellion that is sure to rise against us," Vader replied.

"Then what do you want us to do?" Leia asked. "I don't want to do any unnecessary killing."

"Neither do I, which is why both you and Luke will infiltrate the rebellion and act as a voice of reason for the empire," Vader replied.

"Why do I have to? Leia's the diplomat. They'll listen to her before they listen to me," Luke said.

"You both have a… unique way of rallying people to your side, even though you may not know it. Just be who you are and be my eyes and ears."

"Wait a minute," Leia said crossing her arms. "How are we supposed to-?"

Luke suddenly slapped the air behind Leia. Leia turned around.

"Luke what-?"

"It was just a bug…" Luke muttered.

"Luke," Leia said and the Luke gave her a look…

_Turn around. Act natural,_

Leia looked at him but turned around anyway.

_It wasn't a bug it was a really small dart,_ Luke sent to both Leia and Vader.

_A what?_

_Where's Jade? _Luke asked.

_Who's Jade and what's going on? _Vader asked.

_We don't know, but she's trying to kill us, _Luke sent.

_What? _Vader said and started to bark out instructions when Luke turned around and spotted the assassin in the window shooting what was no doubt another fatal shot.

Luke stopped it with the force and locked eyes with the assassin over the distance before taking off into the gardens.

"Luke!" Leia and Vader said.

Luke ignored them and got to another entrance to the palace racing up the stairs rather than taking the lift and then scrambling into the hall on the second floor in time to see Jade trying to get away into another hallway. Luke used the force to force push her into the wall and then ran to her and held her in place by her arm when she tried to leave again.

"I knew it," Luke said trying to keep the darkness and anger he felt growing in him in check. "Would you like to tell me why you were trying to kill my sister?"

"Maybe you'd like to tell me what you were planning with Vader," she said flipped him over.

She tried to run off again, but Luke grabbed her ankles and yanked her to the ground. Luke got to his knees still holding her ankle and then ducked his head when she threw a viro-blade at him. Jade used that opportunity to kick him in his face. Luke cursed and wiped the blood off his no doubt broken nose and stood up to chase after Jade who ran down the hall again. A vase on the corner in the hall lifted into the air and Luke swung it at Jade who turned on her heal and broke it in mid-air with her fist. Luke grabbed her fist when he caught up to her and punched her in the face.

Jade swore. She had never had problem with anyone she was supposed to kill before, including force-sensitives. She had killed jedi even, but this supposedly half-trained boy was giving her more trouble than ever.

"Damn it!" she said deciding to take out the weapon she always used as a last resort at least since her master had given it to her a few weeks ago. She took out her light saber intending to take off Luke's head with it in his surprise at seeing the weapon.

Luke was surprised when he saw the red blade, but not so surprised that he didn't see it coming when it came. Instead he jumped back.

"You're an emperor's hand," he growled ducking the blade again

Jade looked at him in surprise then. "I'm _the_ emperor's hand. And how did you know that?"

"Because I had the distinct pleasure of meeting one a few years ago," Luke said ducking at swipe from the girl with the light saber.

"What are you talking about?" Jade asked. "I'm the only hand."

"No," Luke said grabbing hold of the hilt of the light saber as he tried to take it from her. "You're not."

Jade groaned and spun Luke, who still had a grip on her light saber, into a wall.

"You liar. You're trying to distract me," she said.

"If it makes you feel better. Mind telling me why you're trying to kill me and my sister?" Luke said pushing himself off the wall and force pushing he back.

"You're a threat to the empire. You're planning to kill him and when I tell him, you'll be sorry for even starting to plan something like this."

Luke may have been stronger but Mara was the more skilled of the two and she pushed him away from her. Throwing him on the ground and making her way to stab him in the stomach.

Luke felt the dark power that he had been trying to keep suppressed rise up in him. He didn't really want to use it, but Jade was an assassin and she was underestimating him. He had to inform her who she was dealing with.

Luke stayed the light saber before Mara was able to strike him and then snatched it out her hand and into his own. Jade moved to make an alternative move, but then she paused and tried to pull at the invisible fingers around her neck as she gagged.

"I hate it when people underestimate me, but I hate more when someone tries to hurt my sister," he said darkly fully intent on killing her.

"Luke!" Leia yelled sounding alarmed as she came around the corner. "Luke stop! Let her go!"

Leia's voice snapped Luke out of his rage and Mara fell to the ground from oxygen deprivation.

"If you had waited on us, you wouldn't have had to fight her," Leia said looking down at Jade.

"If I had waited on you, she would have gotten away," Luke pointed out a little shaken. He had let that other side, the dark side, get hold of him again and he hated himself for it. "She's a hand."

"Not just a hand," Vader said. "She's one of the emperor's best hands. That's Mara Jade and we are lucky to have caught her before she could report to him fully."

"Not really. She has some kind of psychic link with him. If she wakes up, he'll know we have her," Luke pointed out still sour at the girl for trying to kill Leia. As much as he hated the dark side, he couldn't say he hadn't wanted to kill her. She deserved it for trying to kill them.

"But we can't just kill her," Leia said quietly.

Luke looked up at his sister in surprise. She was usually the one all for getting rid of a person. He raised his eyebrow at her. Either being on Naboo had softened her up a lot more than he had originally thought or there was something she wasn't telling…

"So what are we going to do then?" Vader asked giving her the same look Luke was. He was just as curious to hear her idea because quite honestly, he had been thrilled to see Luke using the dark side earlier and had hoped he would get rid of Jade.

"We severe the psychic connection," Leia said softly.

"That's not going to happen," Vader replied. "A characteristic of the hands is that they blindly serve the emperor, no questions asked. No feeling involved…"

Vader trailed off and began to contemplate. Sure Jade wouldn't severe the connection, but perhaps they could force the emperor to do it.

"What are you thinking?" Luke said warily. He wasn't about to pull some stunt to keep the girl alive and keep Leia in danger.

"Luke, Leia. Are you aware of the one thing a spy fears the most?"

Luke shrugged, but Leia who was staring down at Jade hesitated before saying, "Being exposed?"

"Exactly…" Vader said.

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It was one of the biggest scandals of the empire since the start of the empire. Or Luke and Leia made sure it was when word got out someone tried to kill Leia and they claimed to be working for the empire. And like they assumed, the emperor did the only thing he could. He denied it.

Jade had been a peculiar case all together. The girl, who Luke and Leia came to find out was actually two years younger than they were, was feistier than they originally thought. Her temper was worse than Leia's and on several occasions she took out the royal guards guarding her in an attempt to escape. Luckily, not for Jade, Vader had to stay because of the threat until things calmed down and keep an eye on the situation and behavior of the prince and princess. It also gave the twins time for some one on one training with Vader that they had missed out on in the last year. That included, to Luke's delight, light saber training.

It had been the most adventurous thing Luke and Leia had done all year. They of course had to tread carefully. They couldn't act like they actually believed what the assassin told them (or rather told Luke). They had to act like they were in love with the empire and that they didn't believe the emperor they _so adored_ would do such a thing (_Right,_ Luke sent to Leia during one of their interviews). When word got out that they had the spy in custody, Jade got a peculiar headache, one that Luke and Leia knew wasn't normal.

"You think she's okay," Leia asked in their suit one day.

"Why do you ask?" Luke replied. To be quite honest, he could care less.

Leia sighed. And Luke said she scared him… He scared her at how unforgiving he could be when it came to her safety. It wasn't a good thing. It was usually the most forgiving people who were the most merciless when they were pushed to the other extreme. This was going to be delicate and take a bit of convincing. But she had to… For his sake and her handmaiden's.

Leia looked at the floor before looking up to meet Luke's eyes again. "Because I know how she feels…"

Luke stopped the exercises he was doing. "What do you mean?"

"It's one thing to be a slave Luke, but it's another for it to really settle in that you're a slave and your master doesn't really care about you. That's when it really makes itself clear," Leia replied distantly. "It's painful when you learn that someone can just sell you off without a second thought. Jade's not being sold physically, but I bet it's painful finding out that her own master's right hand man is confirming that the emperor isn't just talking for show. Even worse when she reaches out and the connection that was always there isn't…"

Luke understood that. If someone cut him off from Leia, he didn't know what they'd do. They were each other's lifeline in every sense of the word.

"Why are you trying to make me feel sorry for her?" Luke asked. This was unlike Leia.

"Because we can't really blame her. A slave a servant, whatever you want to call it, will do anything to please their master. We can't condemn her to death for that when she knows no better. If you look at it from that point of view, she's innocent," Leia argued.

Luke was silent for a moment as he contemplated what Leia said. Now she decided she wanted to be all merciful and forgiving…

"So what do you want us to do?" he asked finally. "How are we supposed to help her?"

Leia gave him a pointed look and Luke sighed. He knew what they had to do even though he was reluctant to do it. They headed to the area they were keeping Jade and found Vader speaking with her. She was obviously in turmoil and it scared Luke how Vader relished in feeling that from his enemies. Yet there was another side to him. He had to say, he enjoyed these last few days with Vader. It was almost like a normal father son relationship… almost.

Jade wasn't even arguing with him anymore.

"Father," Luke said before he could remember not to say it. "Let us talk to her."

"Luke!" Leia snapped and then nodded to Jade who was looking at them.

"Father?" she muttered. "I knew it…"

Vader looked at Luke and Leia skeptically before giving one last glare to Jade and leaving the room with a sweep of his cape.

"What did you all come in for? To mock me. Show your supremacy to me maybe? Gloat in the fact that you got me?" she snapped.

"Relax," Luke started to say but Leia cut him off.

"We felt sorry for you but if this is how you're going to act we shouldn't have wasted our time," she snapped.

"Pity me?" Jade asked. "I don't need it."

Leia started to say something but Luke said, "We didn't come here to argue with you. We came to try to help you… Well she did. If she gives up on you then we're shipping you right on to Coruscant."

"I don't need it. I'm going to get out of here and when I do-?"

"Then what?" Luke asked crossing his arms. "You have nowhere to go. The emperor's going to kill you, if not that you're exposed so no more spying. What are you going to do?"

"The emperor wouldn't do that. He needs me. I'm his-." Leia cut Jade off.

"What are you Jade? His faithful hand? One of his faithful hands?" she said calmly. "Face it Jade, you're disposable to the emperor."

"I'm not. I'm his hand."

"One of them," Leia replied. "You don't have to believe us. Just ask our dad. Heck, we even managed to kill one a couple of years ago. Besides, if you're not disposable, why do you have a headache from where the emperor cut you off? You can't reach him anymore can you? He fully expects us to kill. But guess what, we're not."

Jade looked up in confusion.

"I know how you feel Jade. Thinking that everything would be alright and then the person that you thought was taking care of you lets you go and reveals he didn't care about you to begin with," Leia pointed out.

Jade started to argue, but Leia continued.

"You were a slave. You carried out his every order without ever asking for a thing for yourself. You might say you were free. But I say you didn't know what real freedom was. So I'm giving it to you now. You can leave right now and go back to the emperor and people will forget all about this or you can stay here and work for us while acting under cover as my handmaiden and you'll learn a type of freedom you would have never known serving the emperor," Leia suggested.

_You know you sound like that cheesy holo movie we watched the other day, _Luke sent.

_Shut up. I'm trying to entice her, _Leia shot back.

"What do you get out of it?" Jade asked slowly.

"The question is what do you get out of it," Leia said to her. "And don't try to put up the tough act. The fight went out of you days ago and now we just want to help. I may sound like I'm in this for my own reasons, but what me and my brother want is the same thing you thought you were getting working for the emperor."

"But the difference between him and us is, we're willing to let you have your free will," Luke said trying to play off of what Leia said.

Jade looked down. She really didn't know what to feel. She felt cold, like she didn't belong anywhere yet these two who couldn't be that much older than her were offering her something that they said she never had. She wondered what it would be like for that whisper not to be there, to be able to do something without that whisper telling her it was going in conflict with her master's plan. It had already gone away and she felt… different. It was weird having her own will.

"So?" Luke asked when Jade didn't answer Leia immediately.

"Fine. I'll do it, but only on my terms," she said stubbornly crossing her arms.

"We'll go talk to Vader then," Leia said and with a pleased smile, she left the room. But Luke stayed to look at the girl for a moment still a little sour with her.

"What?" she snapped.

Luke paused for a moment before replying. "Listen you. It's one thing to mess with me and quite frankly, I don't care what you try to do to me. But _no one_ messes with Leia on my watch," he explained to her.

"What's your point sith spawn?" Mara asked dryly.

"I'm saying that it was only because Leia stopped me that I didn't kill you tonight and I'm still trying to figure out why she did that," Luke admitted softly more to himself than the red-head in front of him. "My point is you lost all chance of friendship with me when you tried to hurt her so just know that you may be on our side, but if I even get the inkling that this is an act set up by you and the emperor to oust us, not even she'll be able to stop me," he warned with a tone that left no room for doubt.

Mara cringed at the darkness she felt coming off of Luke. And then, much like his father, Luke left the room without another look back.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_In the next chapter, Luke and Leia head to Coruscant the newly elected Senator Leia Nabberie to attend the senate convening. However as Leia seems to be finding her way in the empire, Luke can't help but feel a little left out and even tries to talk with Vader to try and work out why he's feeling so lost. However, all thoughts of feeling lost are gone when someone bombs part of the senate building leaving Luke, Leia, and Mara to investigate what happened. The answer not only shocks them, but leads to something they had been trying to avoid for the last year: catching the attention of the emperor._

I love playing around with Luke's personality yet keeping it the same. Because Leia's been through worse and seen worse, it was logical to me that Luke would take Vader being their father harder than she did unlike in the movie where Leia was the one who took forever to forgive and forget, because the roles were kind of reversed (I mean compared to Leia's life, Luke was the prince). Darn these chapters are getting long and longer. This is 10k and the next one, to my shock was a whopping 11k! I think I'm just going to add three thousand more words to it and split it. I was shocked when I checked it.

Anywho, I'm going back to watch the star wars prequel trilogy for my project and I could have sworn I have not seen this movie. I noticed so much more this time watching them all the way through. I can't believe it. Amazing how stuff becomes more clear when you write fanfics about it and have to do an essay on it. Nothing much going on. Sorry I put this up so late, but I was doing math homework. Hope your enjoyed. Review Please.


	7. Coruscant Revolution

I tell you. I have an essay to write so I'm updating this and going to type it on up while I'm in the library. I've been putting it off for two weeks, but in those two weeks I gathers some good ideas, got some opinions and it should write itself. Anywho, this chapter is broken into two parts because at the end of the day, it ended up being 12-13k and I was like you know what, I'm behind on typing this up anyway so let's break it up, meaning it's a little shorter than my last ones but I think I'm entitled to it for those consistent 10k+ chapters (Ducks to find cover and peeks her head over).

Read, Enjoy, and Review Please!

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**Chapter Seven**

**Coruscant Revolution Part I**

"Relax Pooja," Luke said rolling his eyes. "We'll be fine."

"Are you sure? This will be Leia's first senate session. Those senators are dangerous. You can't trust them," Pooja warned.

"You told us Pooja," Leia said dryly. "I'll be fine."

"And our family has many enemies because they hate your mother. They may not know my sister was your mother, but you are connected to our family. Be careful," Sola said to them.

"That's why Luke is going and we have a whole team of personal security to boot. And if it comes to that, Jade has agreed to be my decoy," Leia said pointing to Mara who was standing behind them impatiently.

Their relationship with Mara had been awkward for a while. She still acted like she was spying on them at first. But Luke and Leia were patient with her. Leia was especially patient with her. It amazed Luke sometimes being that it was a side of Leia he never saw. He guessed she had never really had the opportunity to show that side to others when they were on the run. There was no one to show that side to and if there had been there was no time act that way. However, when Mara did start to open up, the roles flipped and Leia went back to being her normal self when she started to learn who the normal Mara was. She had a worse temper than Leia and to Luke that was saying something. She also said what was on her mind when she felt like whether it was tactful or not. The only thing Leia and Mara seemed to agree on was shoot first and ask questions later (if ever).

Luke often found himself playing the mediator between the two because they were both so much alike that they clashed often, but there was also a silent understanding between the two, all three of them actually, so while on the outside, it looked like they were enemies, Leia and Mara were actually the best of friends. It was Luke and Mara who were the real 'enemies', but no one could tell because they hardly if ever spoke to each other.

However, sometimes she was still like the third wheel being that Luke and Leia were closer to each other than they were to anyone else.

"We just don't want you to get hurt," their grandmother said. "My lord. First Padmé, then Pooja, now you Leia… When will this ever stop?"

"Relax," Leia said again. "We'll be fine."

"It's time to go now," said the captain of their security.

"Thank you," Leia said to him. She and Luke gave one last look at their family before getting on their ship.

The three headed for the cockpit. Despite the fact that the security and staff was there to help pilot as well, Luke insisted that he and only he would pilot the _Amidala_.

"Never ever thought we would be punching in the coordinates to Coruscant on this thing," Luke said as he prepared to take off.

"I can only imagine why," Mara said to him dryly from where she was sitting.

"We weren't that bad," Leia said to him.

"You were and you still are," Mara said without cracking a smile.

That was something Luke and Leia had gotten used to long ago. Mara never smiled and she rarely laughed.

"Maybe. But it was never on purpose," Luke added. "Sure we may have looked for trouble a little, but all the major stuff found us. That thing on Lianna was pure coincidence."

"And the stuff on the Star Destroyer?" Mara asked.

"Wasn't our fault we got captured," Luke said to her. "Honest. What were we supposed to do? Sit there?"

Mara looked at them and then said nothing else, for which Leia was grateful because when Luke and Mara did talk, it usually started with Luke defending himself about and then the two ended up fighting (literally. Their last fight almost ended in a light saber duel). So the twins welcomed her silence as they took to talking telepathically.

_So Senator Naberrie. How does it feel to be the youngest senator in galactic history, _Luke joked and Leia mentally laughed.

_It's odd this hasn't happened before. Amazing Naboo is willing to vote in twelve year old queens, but have never elected a seventeen year old senator before, _Leia commented.

Luke looked at her sitting calm and regal as ever. He smiled.

_What? _Leia asked unable to stop from returning the smile.

_A few years ago I couldn't imagine you like this, _he admitted.

_What do you mean?_ Leia asked.

Luke shrugged. _I don't know. You're just… different. I mean, you're still you. I just guess you never had the chance to act this way because we were always in survival mode._

Leia frowned and became unusually quiet. _I still feel like I am sometimes you know? This isn't really who we are. We're still putting up an act, still fighting. Just in a more refined way. At least the scum in Tatooine are outright with their madness. Here we have to read faces and be aware of people's true intentions._

_Yeah,_ Luke said. _I miss it too, _He added replying to the unspoken admission.

_Do you understand the purpose of a senate in an empire anyway? _Leia asked. _This kind of empire anyway._

_What do you mean? _

_We're just a bunch of talking heads giving the people the appearance that they still have some control, but how can that be true when the emperor doesn't even attend the senate sessions, doesn't even get involved with the process to get other opinions. He just makes the decisions in the end. And the governors have direct control over the systems anyway. I just don't see why we still have a senate, _Leia replied. _To be honest, if the Queen hadn't requested it, I wouldn't have gone for it._

In fact, Leia hadn't even been looking to run for senator when she learned Pooja was stepping down to settle into a more domestic role with her secret boyfriend ("Just like her aunt. Relationships with secret men the family knows nothing about. At least she didn't get married though," Sola huffed). But then Kylantha asked her. Leia had fully been intending on turning her down though when her father said he had a feeling in the force that she should do so. No doubt Leia hadn't been happy about it. In fact she ended up arguing with Vader about it for a good while over the com and Luke was simply sitting there waiting for Leia to cave in. Leia always caved to their father. He imagined she would have been 'daddy's little girl' if they had been able to grow up with him.

Luke could see where Leia was coming from though. She wasn't one to sit around and do something that wasn't going to make a difference in the first place. But Vader then pointed out that although that may seem to be the case, she could do a lot more in their quest to take over the empire with her in the senate. Leia didn't exactly know how, but she relented in any case.

However, Luke was still confused about what his role would be in this empire of theirs. He wasn't exactly a politician and to be perfectly honest, sitting on a throne and bossing people around all day didn't appeal to him. In fact, he couldn't get his mind off the jedi lately. He hated some of their principals, in fact they seemed a little ridiculous. But he just had a feeling he couldn't run away from being a jedi forever. Vader would no doubt be very angry with him if he told him that, but Luke didn't feel right using the dark side. Every time he used it, he felt like he had just done something he shouldn't have, even when he used it only in his protectiveness of Leia.

As Luke brooded over this for the remainder of the trip, he didn't notice Mara quietly observing him.

"What's eating at you?" Mara asked noticing Luke's suddenly solemn mood.

Luke glanced at Mara and then looked back to the controls. Leia and Mara had a strange friendship, but Luke didn't know what he and Mara had. There was still a bit of animosity between them for a couple of months ago. It took a lot for Luke not to trust anyone and Mara trying to kill Leia was certainly a lot. Luke guessed it may have been his protectiveness of Leia getting in the way of seeing her for someone who could be a friend or maybe it was something else… Leia had told him that the only reason she stopped him from killing her was because he would have regretted if later on and to this day he had no idea what she meant by it. She hadn't said it in a smug or teasing way. She had been very serious about it.

The only reason Luke was glad he hadn't killed her was that he would have done it out of anger. Either way, it didn't mean he liked her very much. They were practically rivals in a way (rivals sounded better than saying she was his enemy). Luke was used to being the only one who could protect his sister and then Mara came along, and it was her job. The most he did was tolerate her because Leia seemed to enjoy having a female friend. But the strange thing was that even though they didn't really get on well, he felt connected to her in some way and he wondered if it had anything to do with whatever insight Leia had about them.

"Nothing," Luke replied softly as he leaned his head back in his seat. It would be a while before they got to Coruscant. "I just have a feeling that something is going to happen on Coruscant."

"When you two are involved, there's always something," Mara pointed out.

Luke wasn't going to admit to the girl that she was right so instead he was silent. Mara simply scowled and got up to leave the room. Leia looked between the two of them and sighed before telling Luke she was going to find Threepio and Artoo, leaving Luke to his own thoughts for the rest of the trip.

Luke wasn't sure how long he sat there, but it must have been a long time since when he came to they were dropping out of hyperspace. The security team came in deciding it would be best if they landed the ship and gave the security clearances, but Luke wouldn't have it. Landing was the best part. A certain thrill came with finally arriving where you needed to be in one piece when there were a million different things that could have happened in between.

They got clearance to land at the senate building, and Luke smiled as he felt Leia's excitement. Despite her cynical comments about the whole experience, she was secretly excited to be seeing Coruscant. She was excited anytime they came to a new planet.

Luke stood next to Leia and in front of Mara who had her hands at her sides on alert for anything that went off. She looked stunningly like Leia with her hair dyed brown and with the same sun bleached streak that ran through the right side. To tell the truth though, Luke like her hair better when it was red. But being that all three of them were trying to hide from the empire, it was necessary to disguise Mara. The ramp came down and Luke and Leis walked down the ramp flanked by their security.

Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were waiting for them.

"Senator Organa, Senator Mothma," Leia said greeting them. "It's good to see you again."

"Yes. It's always good to see you Princess Leia," Organa said catching Luke's attention. There was a type of fondness in his tone. It sounded like fatherly pride.

Apparently Leia didn't catch it, but Luke crossed his arms and glared at the Senator in any case. He always acted strange around Leia, he and his daughter, Winter. He always had a strange fond and affectionate look when he laid eyes on her and then would look away as though he had caught himself thinking of a life in another universe with Leia. Luke's first instinct was that Bail Organa was sweet on his sister and that he should proceed to put a blaster to Bail's head to scare it out of him. But his more rational side told him that was ridiculous. Bail was a father to a girl not much older than Leia. He wasn't like that… Then again there were some characters like that in the outer rim so he never knew. Leia always did say that there was scum in the core dressed up in civilized garb.

Luke wouldn't say anything about it. He would simply watch Bail some. He really didn't think he meant Leia any harm.

"Prince Luke," Bail said to him.

"Just Luke," Luke said to him trying to crack a fake smile. He wasn't as good at acting as Leia.

Bail nodded. "All is well I hope?"

"Yes senator," Luke said as they went to a conference meeting where Leia would sit for her first meeting as representative a Naboo. The Queen had used some fancy name for it and when Leia didn't even know what it meant, she smiled and said, "It's an informal welcome to the senate."

Kylantha had picked out some senators that she trusted and that had been friends with their mother when she was alive. They were the only people Leia was to trust being that their mother had trusted them when she was alive. Leia didn't particularly like it and neither did Luke. Kylantha would be surprised how many people she thought she could trust who were backstabbers.

Luke was actually surprised with himself. He didn't realize how wary he was until they were put in a situation interacting with people every day. He supposed it couldn't be helped though. He had some of the same problems with people that Leia did. He was just less open about it.

The twins felt him long before he saw him or heard the sound of his breathing. When they walked into the room, Vader was already there sitting at the head of the conference table.

Bail and Mon looked surprised but Luke and Leia weren't. They figured Vader would find a way to be there. He always did when it came to important events that had to do with them.

_Let me guess, _Luke sent to him. _Ensuring the loyalty of Leia to the empire now that she's a senator?_

_You would think. But alas, this is official empire business. Many of the senators your queen has surrounded Leia with are senators on the imperial watch list._

_What's that mean? _Leia asked joining in the conversation.

_It means they're rebel sympathizers Leia. _Luke replied. _But I rather it be that than anyone else. I don't think they'd stab her in the back in any case._

The conversation was cut off and Luke sat next to Leia while Mara sat on Leia's other side at Leia's insistence. It was certainly a welcome, but more of a political one as Leia was simply being briefed on what was going on in the senate and what the next vote would be. Not that Luke thought it mattered as the emperor would do what he wanted anyway. Only half an hour passed into the talk and Luke was sufficiently bored. He let out a loud sigh, but as it turned out, he wasn't the only one.

He looked at Vader who had made something that sounded like a bored sigh through his respirator. Leia acted like she didn't notice and kept a straight face but amusement came off of her.

_Like father, like son, _she sent to them both. _You shouldn't have to sit here though Luke. Mara is with me. I'll be fine. You'll have a better time going to see Coruscant._

_You sure? _Luke asked.

_I'm a bit bored myself, and I'm part of the discussion Luke. I wouldn't dream of putting my worst enemy through this torture, _Leia replied dryly.

_You're right. You'd just kill them outright, _Luke teased.

A ghost of a smile appeared on Leia's lips as she tried to remain serious. Luke then got up nodding his head to excuse himself and left the room. He let out a sigh of relief when he was out and undid the button shirt he was wearing along with taking off the royal robes. Then he ran a hand through his hair messing up the locks that had taken him forever to get neat. He laid the robes over a chair and started toward the exit. He didn't like the robes anyway and Leia would get them if she saw them.

When he got outside, he looked around. The guards must have taken the ship to their new apartment. Luke scowled. An apartment… He used to complain about being bored on Naboo but at least he could go out onto the open fields and race if he wanted.

"Luke."

Luke jumped. He had been so caught in his thoughts he never heard or sensed Vader approach. The sith came to stand next to him and Luke shifted uncomfortable. He understood why Leia was so comfortable around Vader. She had never had a family and no expectations about who they were. But Luke still had a difficult time with it when all his life he had been taught that Vader was more or less the most evil man in the galaxy after the emperor.

"You are uncomfortable," Vader observed.

Luke sighed. "Well can you blame me? I can count on one hand how many times we've been standing next to each other in the last year and a half."

"You're lying. That's not the problem," Vader pointed out.

Luke scowled. "Whatever," he said still trying to figure out what he was going to do today and how he was going to get there being that he had no speeder. He was sure the senate had provided them with some kind of transportation, but he would probably have to wait on Leia to get it… Perfect.

"Come Luke," Vader said as he simply started to walk not waiting for Luke's response. Luke hated it when he did that.

"Come where?" he asked following his father anyway.

"You appear to be bored. Perhaps you would like to see the palace hanger," he said.

Luke almost yelped in excitement and then decided to keep his composure around his father, not that Vader hadn't felt it anyway. He rounded the corner to where Vader's speeder was and stopped in amazement.

"Stang," he muttered when he saw the speeder and fought to keep from running to it, lifting up the hood an inspecting the engine. When he got close enough to it he looked in awe at the cuts and dips, perfectly crafted for speed and maneuverability.

"Impressed?" Vader asked in a smug tone.

"I thought I was the only one who liked speeders like this," he said and then forgetting his previous discomfort with Vader asked hopefully, "Can I drive it?"

"No," Vader replied promptly and got in the passenger's seat.

"Why not?" Luke asked.

"Because I've seen you drive," Vader said as Luke got in the passenger seat.

Luke frowned. When could Vader have seen him drive? Then it dawned on him and he turned to Vader with a scowl.

"That's not fair. We were running away from you. How did you expect us to drive? And it's not like we crashed or ran into anyone or something. Besides, I'm the best pilot there is," Luke said in a haughty tone that would put Leia's to shame.

"In what universe?" Vader asked as her drove them away from the senate building.

"Oh ha ha," Luke muttered and then sighed as he looked out the window, his previous concerns coming back to him.

Vader looked at him and was startled by how much Luke reminded him of himself at that age. He seemed lost, and it was obvious he was trying to figure it all out on his own. Secretive, a trait Luke must have gotten from him, Vader mused.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

Luke shrugged and didn't say anything, remaining stubbornly silent. Vader frowned trying not to let his temper get the best of him. Patience was not one of his attributes and his children always tried what little he had of it. He wasn't oblivious, far from. He felt the way Luke distanced himself from him. It puzzled Vader really as he would have thought it was Leia who would have the hard time accepting him, but here it was Luke who had his mother's heart, the ability to see good in everyone, yet he wouldn't let himself be comfortable around his father.

"Now I'm positive something's wrong," Vader said hoping to catch Luke's attention.

"What makes you say that?" Luke asked defensively. Was he really being that obvious?

"You aren't being nearly as cheeky and smart as you usually are."

Luke didn't even laugh. He simply fell back in his seat again and sighed. Luke tossed around the idea of staying silent or telling Vader what was going on… He certainly couldn't bother Leia with it which was saying something. He told her everything. But this was different and she had more important things to do.

"I'm just kind of lost is all," Luke admitted.

Vader figured as much. Instead of saying anything though, Vader simply waited for Luke to continue.

"Leia's gone and become senator and now… I don't know. It feels like there's no place for me with her anymore. I mean since I was ten, my life pretty much revolved around her and hers around mine to tell the truth and now it seems like she's found a place where she doesn't need me to have her back and I'm stuck with nothing to do."

"Bored?" Vader said though he had a feeling it wasn't just that.

"I don't think so. I guess I just don't know how I play in all this. Leia looks like she's going to be the political powerhouse and where does that leave me?" Luke asked. "I used to think I was meant to be a jedi, but after talking to Obi-wan and Yoda… I don't know."

Luke felt the surge of anger in Vader as his father gripped the steering wheel.

"When did you talk to Yoda and Obi-wan?" he asked tightly.

Luke winced. He remembered hoping beyond all hope that his father forgot about that and it appeared he had. But Luke just had to remind him…

"You know when we were on the way to Naboo and I said we had a detour with the jedi…" Luke said trailing off.

"And where are they?" Vader demanded.

"They were on Dagobah, but I doubt they would be dumb enough to stay there knowing we were in contact with you," Luke said and then sourly added, "Especially after what they said I had to do if I wanted to be a jedi."

"You were going to become a jedi even after you knew I didn't want you to be one?"

Luke scoffed. "No offense, but I really didn't care what you said. All I knew was that I didn't want to use the dark side. And now, I just don't know what I want anymore."

Vader could tell Luke exactly what he was meant to do. The boy was a born warrior and Vader knew that was probably his fault. But not only that, he was a keeper of peace. It was the reason he was so willing to kill anyone disrupted Leia's peace. It was also the reason he wasn't on good terms with Mara who he had let Leia keep around reluctantly in the end. Vader almost groaned as he remembered that argument. He was forced to mediate a long and aggravating shouting match that day.

"The force is strong with you Luke. No doubt it has a purpose for you," Vader said not saying the rest of his statement, but he didn't need to. Luke knew.

"And it's not to become the next sith apprentice," he said crossing his arms.

"There's no point in running away from it. It is your destiny," Vader said as they pulled into the hanger to the palace.

"Why does everything always go back to destiny?" Luke snapped. "Can't I write my own?"

Vader started to reply to Luke's comment but suddenly he stiffened and closed the door to the speeder back remaining in it.

"Go back," he said to his father. "We have to go get Leia."

Vader stared at Luke. "What are you-?" But then he felt it too, the warning, telling them to move quickly. But Vader wondered how Luke had sensed it before he had.

_Leia, leave that building, _Luke warned.

It took a moment for Leia to reply before she finally said. _Already trying to play sick. You felt it too?_

_A while ago. I'm on the way back._

_Where did you go?_

_I'm with Vader. Just meet us outside. Do whatever you have to and get out?_

_It's hard to pretend I've just fallen out when you're talking to me, _Leia commented.

Luke smiled despite the growing warning in the force, and by the time he and Vader had returned to the building. Leia was outside pretending to fan herself as she walked with Bail and Mon Mothma.

"You okay?" Luke asked.

"Oh yeah. It was a little stuffy in there and I needed a little fresh air," Leia lied smoothly.

_That's not what I-. _Luke stopped and started to instruct them to move, but Leia and Vader were already on it and a split second later, so was Mara as she pushed Leia down and pulled the other two senators down with her. No sooner than they had ducked, the part of the building they had just walked out of exploded.

The explosion rocked the entire block and everyone covered their heads to escape from getting hit by the debris that flew out. When it was over, the group stood up and surveyed the damage. The entire street was totaled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leia looked at Luke with concern. He was obviously agitated about something. The only reason he ever tried to make himself sit down was to prevent himself from doing something that he knew he probably shouldn't do.

Next to her Mara was staring as well. She may not have been on decent terms with Skywalker, but even this was starting to bother her now.

"What the hell is wrong with you farm boy?" Mara snapped finally.

Luke snapped his head up to glare at her and Leia laughed.

"She's right," Leia said when he looked at her.

Mara had given him that name because Luke had a child like fascination with everything, like he had lived on a farm all his live. So she wasn't really shocked when Leia told her that Luke had been raised on a farm. Instead, she muttered something about that explaining a lot. Now, the few times she and Luke did speak, which was rare, Leia noted, she called him that.

Luke groaned in frustration. "I can't just sit here and do nothing while hundreds of people just died today because some guy wanted to get back at the empire. That didn't mean he had to go blow up a whole bunch of innocent people."

"So what do you plan on doing?" Mara asked him raising her eyebrow. She had heard about Luke and Leia's many exploits in the empire and as soon as Luke mentioned not being able to sit down, a red flag went up.

"I'm not staying here," Luke said as he went into his room. Leia followed him as she saw him go into his closet and pull out a large chest. He opened it to reveal a bunch of the weapons he and Leia used to keep hidden in a room aboard the _Amidala._

"Alright," Leia said rushing to her room to change into something more appropriate for what they were about to do.

"Are you sure about this Skywalker?" Mara asked.

"Scared Jade?" Luke asked attaching his blasters to his belt before pulling in on.

"No. But I don't think Vader would appreciate it if I let you get hurt doing this. I heard you did stuff so stupid you may as well have stood in the path of a heard of rampaging bantha," the fifteen year old said curtly.

"Jade," Luke said standing up to face her. "I don't have time for this. Me and Leia are going to investigate this. Now are you coming or what?"

Mara rolled her eyes. "Not like I have a choice. I have to protect Leia. Couldn't care less what happens to you…"

"Would you two stop it already?" Leia asked coming back in, her braids twisted and pinned to her head and a blaster in her hand.

"Threepio, Artoo," Luke said toward the living room. "We're going on an adventure."

Artoo immediately came out the back with Threepio scurrying behind him asking, "Exactly what do you mean Master Luke."

"Come on," Luke said putting his hand on the door and then stopping.

"Guards," Leia said knowingly.

"That means we have to climb up and get the speeder," Luke said starting to go towards the balcony, but Mara was already there in the driver's seat of the speeder.

"Way ahead of you," she said.

Luke and Leia regarded Mara curiously, wondering how she managed to get out and back in the apartment (or outside of it with the speeder anyway) so quickly.

_That's what happens when your handmaiden is an ex-assassin and spy, _Leia sent with a shrug as she climbed into the speeder pushing Threepio and Artoo into the back seat. Luke didn't bother trying to get Mara out of the passenger seat because to be quite honest, he didn't need to start any mess with her if they wanted to investigate the senate explosion.

The ride wasn't long. Their apartment wasn't far from the building and in fact, it was in walking distance. Mara parked the speeder a block away and the all sat down in front of a restaurant across from where the explosion was being investigated. The whole opposite side of the street was blocked off and bodies laid on the sidewalk, unfortunate victims of the explosion.

"Where's dad?" Leia asked. "He's supposed to be here. Isn't a terrorist threat to Curuscant something he has to personally take care of as the commander of the fleet?"

"He's probably somewhere interrogating people," Luke said as he tried to figure out how they were going to get past the storm troopers to investigate the mess themselves. "Any ideas."

"Well I've got one idea but I doubt the empire would like it," Leia replied and Luke sent her a glare before he reluctantly addressed Mara.

"What about you Jade?" Luke asked.

Mara surveyed the area and then said, "The underground."

"The underground," Leia repeated.

"Yeah. Coruscant is just layers and layers of communities built higher and higher. The city goes hundreds of stories down. There are connectors between the levels that attach to certain buildings. What people don't know is that the senate has a connector. All we have to do is get to it," Mara replied.

"You know your way down there?" Luke asked.

"The question is are you willing to go down there?" Mara asked. "It's dangerous."

Luke and Leia gave Mara a pointed look that said it all and Mara nodded.

"Then let's go," she said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Well this certainly brings back a lot of memories," Leia said dryly as she looked at the district.

Luke nodded in agreement. He and Leia had frequented dark and shady places like this and worse for years. They had only gone two levels down, passing the busy Uscru Entertainment District on the way, making a mental note to visit, and it was a stark contrast to the first level of Coruscant that they were staying on.

"Keep your hand on a weapon," Mara warned as they walked the dark streets.

"Oh my," Threepio said. "Master Luke. Perhaps we should go back up to the surface. This looks dangerous."

"We've seen worse Threepio," Luke pointed out.

"Agreed, but sir, it's been a year since-."

Artoo cut Threepio off telling him what translated into shut up. However, even he was sticking a little too close to Luke.

"Hey," a humanoid alien said stopping Leia grabbing her by the arm. "Want some death sticks?"

Leia jumped startled and pulled out her blaster to shoot him, but Luke stopped her.

"We don't want to attract any more attention than we need to Leia," he said.

Mara hesitated but then added. "He's right. There may not be as much security down here, but there's enough. Come on. The building's this way and then all we have to do is get on the lift."

Mara led them to what looked like a long since abandoned building, but it was different from the other ones.

"The senate has been in the same spot for millennia. The new senate building was just built over it on the next level. What most people don't know is that there's a lift connecting the levels. All we have to do is take it straight to the top and we'll be in," she explained starting to go in the building.

Luke shook his head. "Somehow, I have a feeling we don't even have to go that far," he said.

"Why not?" Mara asked.

"Just think about it," Luke said. "Do you think it's a coincidence none of us sensed danger when we first got to the senate building? I mean, me and Leia would have sensed a detonator a mile away if it had already been there, so apparently someone got in an out between the time me and Vader left to the time Leia led everyone out."

"But if they got out, they would have been caught on the cameras," Leia said getting what Luke was saying.

"Unless, they never left," Mara concluded. "Unless they just went down to a lower level through a passage little known…"

"Exactly," Luke said. "That's why I get the feeling we won't even have to go as far as the upper level."

Mara still led them in the abandoned third level building with her blaster at the ready. "I sense someone," she said.

"Us too," Leia replied as they looked around what appeared to be some kind of grand lobby.

"The stairs," Luke said nodding to them.

"Good idea. Whoever's here won't hear us," Mara said.

"Master Luke. Can't me and Artoo just wait down here. I don't think you'll need us for this and-."

"Shut up copper mouth," Mara snapped and Threepio wisely stopped complaining, but not before letting out a moan.

The three tiptoed up the level carefully inspecting each one. It was time consuming and evidently, Mara was getting a little impatient.

"This is taking too long. We'll be here forever at this rate," she said.

"Well it seems like an ex-assassin would have the knowhow to make this a lot easier for us," Luke said to her.

"Said ex-assassin used to have access to some of the best information in the galaxy to help her," Mara snapped.

Luke started to reply, but Leia interjected.

"Both of you just shut up already. I sense someone on this floor," she said.

And she was right because no sooner than she said it, Mara whipped around and shot into the corner hearing a loud groan from whoever she got. This immediately got Leia into act as the rest of the guards hiding in the corners came out, but Luke stood momentarily stunned. He had never met anyone with as quick a blaster hand as his sister and not even Leia had aim like that.

"Stop staring and help us Luke," Leia snapped.

Luke blinked. "Oh yeah," he said raising his blaster to shoot one of the guards behind Mara and then flipping one over his shoulder while Leia clocked him in the head with her blaster to make sure he was down for the count.

"All that self defense training Kylantha made us go through is paying off," Luke pointed out. "Hey Leia."

Leia stood back to back with him and locked her elbows with his. Luke bent over to so they both ducked the blaster shot coming their way and then Leia kicked the shooter hard in the face with one foot, locked her legs around his neck and the using the force to help her, flipped him over her and Luke's head to get the guy aiming at Luke and in the process flipped herself over so that she landed neatly on her feet.

"Neat trick," Mara commented. Now she knew why they had been a force to be reckoned with a few years ago. She hadn't understood it while she was spying on them because they seemed like two reckless and somewhat bored teenagers to her. She hadn't even been too intimidated by Luke when he tried to kill her. But it was when they were together that a person probably had better luck trying to convince Jabba the hutt to turn from his crime lord ways than getting those two down.

"Is that all?" Luke asked looking around and then he sensed it and turned to Leia.

Mara jumped in front of her though, taking the stun blast and Leia caught her before she fell.

In those couple of seconds of distractions though, the three were surrounded by the terrorists who without a doubt Luke and Leia knew had set of the detonator earlier.

_Stang! _Luke sent to Leia and those were her sentiments exactly.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Don't kill me! I know, I know. It's a cliffhanger but it was the perfect break and it was right at the halfway mark. I'm sorry!

Anywho, for those who liked my Dark Ahsoka series, it seems like I may have **Forgive and Forget** up next moth rather than next year (which is only two months away). I want to finish writing it first though because I'm still writing **Light of Liberty** and I don't want it to interfere with this, yet I don't want to leave you hanging for a month because it's not my priority. I should know by the end of the week though and when I do. I'll let you know.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!


	8. Coruscant Revolution II

I've got two essays to finish and a presentation to do at school and I am not working over the thanksgiving break. I have no time to be posting this, but I'm going to. This is the continuation of the last chapter and that's all there is to say really.

Read, enjoy, and review!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter Eight**

**Coruscant Revolution Part II**

As Luke and Leia got a good look at the terrorists, they took back their previous assessment of the situation. These weren't terrorists. They were just a group of teenagers. The oldest being a couple of years older than Luke and Leia. But something told them that these were the so-called 'terrorists' who blew up part of the senate building.

"What do we do with them Dan?" one of the younger ones asked the oldest, who Luke and Leia assumed was the leader.

"Tie them up," he said. "With chains."

_Well this is new, _Leia sent. Usually they were just sent into some kind of holding cell.

"What about the droids?"

"Shut down the protocol droid and take the Artoo unit upstairs. We can use him."

Artoo began to beep and whistle furiously at the teens and shocked one before trying to get away. However one of the girls kicked him over and then hoisted him up the steps with the help of two others.

"What are you doing?" Leia asked a little irritated. "You attacked us. We haven't done anything."

"Being here is enough," Dan snapped.

"Scared we might find out something that you don't want us to?" Luke asked albeit much calmer than Leia had.

"You all work for the empire don't you?" a girl around Mara's age asked.

"If that's how you want to put it," Leia said.

"But not really. They don't know we're here," Luke added.

"Close enough," another boy said with a sigh after securing the chains.

Leia tried in vain to get out of them and kicked one of the kids in the process as he took her weapons.

_Leia,_ Luke said. It amazed him at how fast she went from diplomatic to ready to fight.

_Weren't you just the one ready to fight someone for all of this a few minutes ago, _Leia replied. Luke's tendency to mercy amazed her at times.

_But some of these guys are barely teenagers, _Luke sent and then turned his attention to the group.

"So you all set that detonator off in the senate?" he asked.

"Since you're not getting back to the surface," Dan said. "Yeah we did."

"But wait a minute," Luke said confused. "Why? The senate hasn't done anything-."

"That's the point. They sit and argue like little children and never take care of the real issues. Do you know how many people have gone up there to petition for help with the violence down here? All of them deserved to die and the only reason we didn't take out the whole thing was because we didn't have time to set off the rest of them."

"The rest of them!" Luke and Leia said in surprise.

"It seems like the only thing that spurs them to take action is violence so we're going to make a big show."

Luke and Leia stared at him, momentarily flabbergasted before Leia found the voice to talk.

"You can't. You won't just be killing people who are guilty. You'll be taking out a bunch of good people who are essentially powerless to do anything to help even if they wanted to. The emperor's the one-."

"And they always side with the emperor. They don't care about us," Dan cut in.

"They have no choice or they're tried for treason. What do you expect?" Luke asked.

"They do have a choice. They have a choice not to dump trash down here like we don't really matter. They have a choice to spruce this place up, so we aren't living in constant darkness. They don't really care."

"Even if they don't you can't just blow up a whole kriffing block," Luke said. "You'll kill people minding their own business that have nothing to do with that. Where did you get your hands on these kinds of explosives anyway?"

"The same way death sticks get onto the planet," a young girl said. "Besides. We have to do something. The adults are too afraid to do anything so we have to. Like those other two did."

"Other two?" Luke asked. "What other-?"

_Don't you remember what we used to do for a living? _Leia asked and then it dawned on Luke that their past escapades had inspired these youths.

"Wait a minute," Luke said. "We wouldn't bomb a place where civilians were."

"We?" someone said.

"We're the ones you're talking about. That used to be us," Leia explained calmly.

Everyone sat in stunned silence for a while as they stared at Luke and Leia.

"Really?" one of them said in amazement. "Then you'll help us right?"

"No. Not to do this. It won't just be people who deserve it that are going to die. It'll be innocent people," Luke tried to explain in vain.

"If you're really who you say you are, why are you fighting against us," Dan asked.

"We're not fighting you. But even though we did cause a lot of damage and attracted attention, no one ever got hurt unless they were willing to risk their lives or deserved it. No one innocent ever died," Leia continued but it was no use now. They were ignoring her.

"What do we do with them?" a Mon Calamari boy a few years younger than Dan asked.

"Leave them here," the leader said. "We'll deal with them later. Right now we don't have time for this. Let's go. We have to set the rest of the detonators now."

"No," Luke and Leia shouted struggling to get out of the chains.

Luke briefly thought about using the force but then thought better of it and instead just waited for them to leave. Leia, noticing this followed his lead and then when Luke was sure they were gone, started trying to wake up Mara.

"Jade," Luke said trying to nudge her. "Wake up."

"I am up and would you stop nudging me farm boy!"

"Good," Luke said urgently. "We have to get out of here right now."

"What's going on?"

"Apparently," Leia said. "We've inspired a group of youth to rebel against the empire. The problem is that they're hurting civilians in the process."

"I can't believe this," Luke said as he leaned into Mara and Leia's backs. "When did we become inspiration for rebellion and revolution?"

"Since when weren't you," Mara asked dryly. "Are you really surprised? Two teenagers with no fear wrecking havoc on the empire and unafraid, causing more impact than anyone in the senate ever could. You didn't think you'd start a revolution? What galaxy have you two been in?"

"Well we didn't think we'd start one on Coruscant. But regardless," Luke said as all three of them managed to stand up, "we have to stop them."

"One problem dear brother," Leia said referring to the chains.

"My light saber," Mara muttered.

"You still have that thing?" Luke asked.

"What was I supposed to do with it? Get rid of it?" Mara asked. "It's attached to my leg, under my skirt. But one of you have to get it. I can't reach it."

"I'll get it," Leia said starting to slowly pull up the skirt of her handmaiden's attire.

"You can't get it. It's not on your side," Mara said dryly.

It didn't take long for Luke to figure out what she was trying to say and he adamantly shook his head.

"Are you kriffing joking Jade?" he asked mortified. He was thanking the force it was so dark otherwise Mara and his sister would have seen the red that had covered his cheeks.

Leia however could feel his embarrassment and any other time she would have been amused. But this was life or death for thousands of innocent people.

"Get over it Luke. It's no different than me sleeping in your bed," she said rolling her eyes.

Mara raised an eyebrow. "You two sleep together?"

"Not like that," Luke replied dryly. "Besides, that's different. You're my sister. She's…"

"I'm what farm boy?" Mara snapped.

Luke felt his face heat up even more. He couldn't believe he was doing this. He slowly hiked up the side of Mara's skirt that he was closest too, relieved to find out she had on leggings under it. As Luke felt her thigh for the weapon, a stray very lewd thought entered his mind. He smiled a little and then frowned as he banished the thought from his mind. He didn't even know he remembered that from Han's 'facts of life' lessons.

"Got it," Luke finally said in triumph pulling the weapon away from where it was hoisted.

"Do you know how to work that?" Mara asked concerned.

"I've used a light saber before," Luke pointed out.

"I mean can you use that without cutting off my arm when you cut these chains," Mara said. "You know what? I'll just do it."

"I've got it," Luke said lighting the red saber.

"No-."

"Would you two just shut up?" Leia said as she summoned the light saber to her hand from Luke and cut the chains with the flick of her wrist. "Come on. We have to follow them."

"Someone has to go warn everyone from the outside," Luke said shaking his head. "Leia, you take the speeder and Threepio and find father. Tell him he has to evacuate the entire senate block. We'll try and stop them before they do any more damage."

"Wait a minute. Why can't Mara go?" Leia asked.

"Because you can be about as reckless driver as I am when you need to be and you'll be able to get in contact with Vader faster. Hurry up," Luke said to her and Leia nodded, reactivating Threepio, who started to sputter out relieved comments, before she dragged him down the steps and back outside.

"You know where that lift is right?" Luke asked and Mara nodded as they hurried up the steps to find the secret lift that connected the levels of Coruscant.

"We'll have to hotwire it," Mara said when they got to the locked elevator that was protected by some type of security.

"You have a lot to learn about the force," Luke said as he moved his hand over the padding opening up the elevator and triggering the lights.

"Who taught you that?"

"Learned it from Leia," Luke said as the doors to the lift closed and they took it back up to the surface in silence before Luke finally said, "Thank you."

"For what?" Mara asked.

"Protecting Leia," Luke said quietly.

Mara tilted her chin up. "Well that's my job. I'm her bodyguard. I'm supposed to protect her."

"Even so, you didn't have to. That's always been my job you know," Luke said softly and then sensing a snide comment from her he continued.

"People don't really understand why we're so close. Even when they knew we were twins they didn't understand why we would rather sit amongst ourselves and talk rather than make friends. We didn't argue or get on each other's nerves like the other people we knew that were siblings on Naboo. But that's because me and Leia have gone through everything together and we understand that life is too short to waste arguing and fighting over nothing," Luke said with a small smile.

"What are you trying to say farm boy?" Mara snapped impatiently.

"I'm saying thank you for being tolerant of us even though you didn't have to be. Not many people understand our bond and are willing to be friend with us because sometimes we can make them seem like the third wheel. It's the reason me and Winter didn't work out too well," Luke added. "She wanted me to be closer to her than I was to Leia and I just couldn't do it… not yet anyone. I'm working on it though. I'm trying to learn to let my sister go."

Mara blinked. Winter…? "Winter Organa? You two dated?"

"I don't think we were together long enough for it to be called dating. Besides, it was long distance," Luke said with a bit of a snort. "Leia said it wasn't going to work out from the beginning. The odd thing is, Leia and Winter are pretty good friends."

Mara smirked. That explained why Winter seemed a little bitter at Luke occasionally.

The door to the lift opened and they met with Dan was at the end of the dark senate hall trying to get Artoo to open a door who was adamantly refusing them.

"Stupid droid," Dan said starting to manually override the security instead. "We don't have time for this."

"Stop," Luke said thrusting his hand out and force pushing Dan into the wall.

"Damn it," Dan said taking out a comlink. "Set the detonators off."

"No," Luke said snatching the com from him with the force which distracted him long enough for Dan to make a run for it. He looked at Mara who nodded and took off after him.

"Don't do it," he said into the com. "Stop."

"Who is this?" the boy on the other end demanded.

"Luke," Luke replied. "Luke Skywalker. And you don't want to make yourselves the bad guys trying to be the heroes. If you set those detonators off that's what you'll become."

Luke prayed to the force that they would hear him out as he started down the halls trying to search for the Mon Calamari he had seen earlier. Diplomacy was usually Leia's thing even though most times she used a blaster to do it. But these kids were just like him and Leia. They weren't afraid of a blaster or the threat of death.

"We're trying to get their attention, to show them that we can be just as cold and uncaring as they are."

Luke started to go around the corner but then ducked back around when he saw and officer securing it. Carefully he lifted his blaster and stunned the man before moving on.

"And maybe some people deserve it, but if you do it like this you prove you're no better than they are. Think about it. The empire does the same thing. Did you hear about that raid on Ryetom?" Luke asked. "There were rebels there and just because the rebels were in the city, the empire wasted it and killed thousands of innocent people in the process. That's what you're about to do. You're about to wipe out the good people trying to get to the bad. Do you really want to do that? Can you really live with that?"

There was a long pause and then the communications were cut. But instead of being nervous about the entire situation, Luke put his complete and total faith in the force. All he needed to do was to stall them long enough for Leia to get their father.

He found who he was looking for hidden in one of the rooms on the upper floor and sighed in relief when he found the boy talking into the com getting ready to tell every to go through with the plan. Luke started to just stun the boy, but then he'd still be left with a dozen other teens ready to set off the detonators. Instead he remembered something he had seen the dark jedi who tried to kill him do.

He concentrated on the conscious of the boy and tapped into the force.

"You're having second thoughts," he said and the boy paused.

For a while, Luke didn't think it worked until the boy repeated what he said.

"I'm having second thoughts," he said.

"That Skywalker boy is right."

"That Skywalker boy is right."

"This isn't right."

"This isn't right."

"Abort the mission," Luke said finally.

"Abort the mission."

"You sure," came a voice over the com.

"Just do it," Luke said.

"Just do it,"

"Alright. Mission aborted."

Luke sighed in relief and then raised his blaster to stun the boy in front of him. But they weren't in the clear yet. If anything, Luke had only bought some time for himself. So he ran to the elevator and took it down to the first floor and ran out the senate building to the dozens of storm troopers patrolling the area since the disaster.

"Who's your commanding officer," Luke demanded of one of the troopers.

"Hey kid. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"No time. Who's your commanding officer?" Luke said again, this time getting irritated.

"That would be me," a trooper said and Luke saw the difference in his uniform. "What are you doing here kid?"

"Evacuate the building," Luke said.

"What?"

"Don't question me. Just do it, or we'll have a disaster worse than the little explosion we had earlier."

"And who gave you the right to command," he asked.

"Lord Vader," Luke said boldly.

"And do you have the proof of it," the trooper asked.

"No," Luke said crossing his arms. "But do you want to be the one to tell Lord Vader you disobeyed a direct command and cost thousands of lives in a disaster that could have been avoided?"

"Very well," the trooper said and then spoke into the com in his helmet. "Emergency evacuation."

"And hurry it up already," Luke demanded.

The evacuation process began and Luke turned around sensing Mara come up behind her with Dan in cuffs and her blaster trained in his back warning him not to try anything by the movement of her lips.

"Tried to steal a speeder and get away," Mara said in disgust.

Luke looked at Dan who looked to be pretty beaten up and bruised courtesy of Mara. He looked at her pointedly and she shrugged.

"Well I didn't let him get away. Who cares if I ruffed him up a little?" she asked.

Luke shook his head and turned to Dan with his arms crossed. "You're looking at a pretty long sentence Dan, but I'll give you the chance to redeem yourself if you tell me where all the detonators so I can deactivate them and then we'll discuss the terms of your freedom."

"You think you're so good. You're no better than the empire," Dan spat.

"Watch it you," Mara said jugging the boy in the back with her blaster.

"Actually, if Vader were here, he'd just have you taken straight into detention, tried, and executed. I'm telling you that I don't have to tell them anything if you cooperate and do things on my terms. We need all the help we can get," Luke offered.

"Let's just kill him," Mara said impatiently.

"Never. I won't ever sell out," he screamed and managed to break out of Mara's hold. He started to run and Mara made three well aimed shots at him to bring him down. However, he kept going towards Coruscant traffic.

"Where's he running to?" Mara yelled.

"He's desperate," Luke said running to get him and then yelled to the troopers. "Stop him!"

But it was too late. The teen jumped into the Coruscant traffic, no doubt falling to his death.

"Damn it," Luke said as he down to see where he had fallen but to no avail.

"He's probably dead now," Mara said shrugging when she got next to him. "That was stupid."

"Commander," the trooper Luke talked to earlier said in his direction and Luke looked around for a commander before Mara pointed out that the man was talking to him.

"Oh," Luke said startled. "Yes?"

"The evacuation is underway and the techs are on the scene disengaging the detonators," he said. "The group of terrorist surrendered and showed us where they were."

Luke rolled his eyes. Terrorists? Hardly…

"Where are they?" Luke asked just as he felt Leia approach them with Vader.

Vader surveyed the scene quietly for a moment and Luke had no doubt that he was about to be in the most trouble he had been in for at least a year. He was right.

"What in the Force's name possessed you three to go into the underground and investigate this? Do you know how reckless and impulsive this was? Do you know what could have happened had it been a more serious threat besides a bunch of disgruntled misguided kids who want nothing more than a little attention?" Vader boomed.

"Well in our defense," Leia said standing next to Luke. "If we hadn't, the rest of the senate building would have gone sky high."

Vader turned his glare on Leia who wisely closed her mouth and let Vader continue.

"And did you consider the consequences of what would have happened had you not stopped it and got caught up in the explosion? Your mother and Ahsoka led you to me to protect you, but that's hard to do when you all go and do something stupid and reckless like endangering your lives and calling for assistance after you've already dived in head first." Vader added.

"Ugh," Leia said rolling her eyes.

"For Force's sake, we get the point," Luke groaned.

Then the two exchanged a confused.

"How do you know Ahsoka?" the both asked wondering how he knew the spirit of the former jedi who helped them.

Vader sighed. "Never mind that. Now that that's out the way," he said turning his stare back on them and the twins prepared for the worst, which was Vader humiliating them right then and there resulting in the two not talking to him for a few days at least.

But to their surprise Vader didn't humiliate them. In fact, he praised Luke… Well, as close as Vader could get to praising someone anyway.

"However, I must wonder why Leia was in such a rush to come get me. It appears that you have the situation under control Luke, which is more than what I can say for imperial commanders who are supposed to be trained and competent enough to handle situations like this. It would have been too late to do anything by the time I got here," Vader admitted and the next words that came out it mouth completely floored Luke. "Good job son."

Luke blinked. "Did I hear that right?" he asked.

Vader crossed his arms and Luke got the message through the force. Don't push it.

"What's the situation in any case?" Vader asked of him

Luke explained everything that he, Leia, and Mara had discovered, right up to where Dan had essentially committed suicide trying to escape arrest.

"The troopers say they gathered the bombers," Luke said as the trooper began to lead them to where they were. "But they're younger than we are dad. You can't try them. They were just trying to help the galaxy."

"Why do I get the feeling that a certain two force sensitive teenagers had something to do with inspiring this little rebellion?" Vader said in exasperation. No matter what it was, his children were at the center of it one way or another. It was a wonder the force allowed him to reproduce if the result would always be children like Luke and Leia…

"Which is exactly why we shouldn't kill them. As far as the galaxy will know, this is a one man job. I know exactly what we can do with these guys," Leia said confidently.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey farm boy," Mara said loudly. "Wake up!"

Luke groaned as he pulled the covers over his head. "What in sith hell do you want Jade?"

"Get up you idiot. Vader wants to see you at the palace," she snapped opening the window letting the light stream in.

"Tell him to make a kriffing house call," Luke said pulling the covers over him. This was the first good sleep he had gotten since he got to Coruscant. As soon as the emergency was over, he, Leia, and Mara had been taken to be debriefed about everything that had happened. It was interesting to come up with a believable story and not give away that they were force sensitive.

In the end, it was chalked up to three teenagers looking for trouble in a place they shouldn't have been to begin with and stumbled upon a terrorist. The terrorist in question was dead and the detonators were disengaged.

The real story was the terrorists were a group of kids who were trying to make a difference in the galaxy. The leader had died, but Luke and Leia couldn't let their father detain and try them. They had the right intentions after all, but they just went about it the wrong way. So Luke carefully led them back to the third level of Coruscant and very discreetly, a ship would take them off planet. Leia managed to convince Vader that it was children like these who possibly didn't mind the empire, but simply wanted to end the corruption, that could help them take over the empire in the future.

Vader reluctantly, very reluctantly, agreed to take them to his private estate on Vjun where they would train.

It had been tiring and when Leia left to go get some rest along with Mara, Luke was stuck with even more interrogations and debriefings and he was the one being hailed as the hero. Needless to say, when Luke finally did get back to his bed he hadn't been expecting anyone to wake him up and he hadn't asked.

"I have to wonder if you're a prince or Corellian scum with that mouth of yours sometimes," Mara said dryly.

"I knew a Corellian," Luke admitted.

Mara sighed. "Get up you or I'm flipping this kriffing bed over with you in it," she threatened.

"I'd like to see you try," Luke challenged and Mara moved to do just that, but Luke stuck a hand out from under his comforter and used the force to shove her back out the door and close it in her face. He was only vaguely aware of her shouting "Luke Skywalker!" followed by a string of obscenities that would have made Han cringe.

Luke did eventually get up though on his own though, albeit an hour and a half after Mara had come to wake him, and in thirty minutes he was ready to go to the palace. Leia was sitting lazily on the couch doing some reading and it was then he noticed she wasn't going along. When he asked she shrugged.

"He specifically said he wanted to see you and you know Vader. He says what he means and means what he says," Leia pointed out. "By the way, Mara's pissed at you for earlier. I'd advise staying out of her way for a while."

Luke winced. Much as before he really didn't like Mara, her temper was a force to be reckoned with and he really didn't feel like dealing with it at the moment. He rushed to speeder waiting for him before the girl found out he was awake, taking Artoo with him at the little droid's request.

Vader was not a patient man and he hated to be kept waiting, so when Luke got out of the car, he wasn't surprised that Vader simply turned on his heels and started to walk which Luke took as a signal to follow him.

Luke rolled his eyes. Now he could see where Leia got her mood swings from. It wasn't a psychological disorder, it was inherited. Then again, psychological disorders could be passed down…

"What's going on that you had me rush over here?" Luke asked almost running to keep up with Vader, Artoo speeding up to keep up.

"Not that you rushed over here at all," Vader said agitatedly but it wasn't just at him, Luke noticed.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"The emperor wants to see you," Vader said and if it were possible, Luke's jaw would have hit the ground.

"What?"

If that wasn't enough, the next thing that came out of Vader's mouth nearly had him swooning.

"He knows."

Luke tensed needing no other explanation than those words. "What about Leia?"

"He hasn't noticed, and he's not going to find out either," Vader said stopping to look at Luke. "Keep your thoughts clear of her. Don't reach out to her. Don't connect with her at all in his presence and for force's sake keep your shield up and only allow him to see what you want him to. That's the reason he sensed you in the first place."

"My shields?" Luke asked and then it dawned on him that he might have momentarily let go of his shield trying to concentrate on using the mind trick earlier.

"Stang," he muttered. Vader shot him a look but was otherwise not concerned about Luke's choice of words being that he was mentally saying much worse.

The guards in front of the throne room stepped aside to let them pass. Luke got his first sight of the emperor and had to hide his disgust.

_This corpse is your master? This is the sith master,_ Luke sent to Vader in shock.

_He is not to be underestimated Luke, _Vader sent and abruptly closed his connection with Luke but then added, _Bow!_

Luke sank to one knee alongside Vader and tried to resist flinching from how cold and dark the emperor felt. The emperor simply laughed in what might have been pleasure if Luke didn't sense the evil intent behind it.

"Rise my friends," he said.

Luke bit his tongue to keep from saying that Palpatine wasn't his friend.

"Young Skywalker," Palpatine said. "I've been looking forward to meeting you. I must say, it's good to see that you are alive."

If he were just a farm boy from Tatooine, Luke would have thought Palpatine was friendly and wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone. But Luke wasn't just a farm boy from Tatooine anymore. He knew Palpatine's inviting tone was just a cover for his real intent. He had met people similar to them before and because of that, and Leia making sure he knew it, he could spot evil intent a mile away _without_ the force.

"Lord Vader told me about your work to help the empire yesterday and how you and your friends managed to capture and kill the terrorist," the emperor said to him.

"We didn't really kill him. He just jumped into traffic…" Luke muttered.

"And you single handedly led the troopers to evacuate the senate building and disengaged the detonators. You father tells me that worked with more competence than commanders that have had years of training," Palpatine said. "That girl that was with you though, Leia… She's not really your sister, is she?"

"No. It's just a cover," Luke said quietly. "We used to tell people we were twins so if they ever got to us and had to take blood or something, we could use that as some kind of proof to get away."

"So it was the two of you?" Palpatine asked and Luke's silence was all he needed. "The girl though. Is she force sensitive?"

Luke tried to hide his panic. He couldn't let Palpatine know about Leia. As long as he stayed calm, the emperor would have no reason not to believe him. Leia's shields were so strong that it took a lot for someone to sense her force sensitivity if they didn't know it was they to begin with.

"It's a trick. She can't do any of that stuff. It's all me. I made it look like that to scare people."

Luke looked at Palpatine trying to gauge his reaction. He seemed to fall for the lie and Luke guessed it was years being around Leia that rubbed off on him. Palpatine was silent for a while and so Luke was surprised when he finally spoke again.

"Well you cannot truly be blamed for what you did without proper guidance. It appears that your talents work for the good of the empire when needed. I have a gift for you young Skywalker," Palpatine said rising from his throne. "This way."

Palpatine led Luke and Vader to a room off to the side of the throne room filled with computers and nodded to one of the techs.

"We can use people like you in the empire young Luke," Palpatine said. "And no doubt you have inherited your father's leadership qualities long with an aptitude for the force. Look what you've done with little to no training at all."

Luke looked at Vader who didn't react, but his apprehension was evident in the force.

"With all due respect your highness," Luke said cautiously. "What are you trying to say?"

The plans for a large starship came up on the hologram and Luke gaped in shock. From the designs, he could tell it was going to be huge. It was like a small city in the sky, even bigger than the star destroyers already out in orbit.

"Wow," Luke said forgetting who he was talking to. "Can I-?"

The emperor nodded and stepped aside as he looked at the plans for the ship.

"Super Star Destroyers," the emperor said. "The one you're looking at here is going to be your father's. It's about time he got his own flagship to be on the front lines of the galaxy and protecting the empire. And with training, so will you."

Luke was only half listening as he looked at the designs with a frown. The way they were being built now, they would need constant maintenance and it would be costly to run it. Not to mention it was huge.

The tech then went to the designs for another for another ship that was a little smaller than the Star Destroyer Palpatine had just showed Luke but Luke liked it even better. It was smaller, which meant more speed. Who needed all that space in a ship anyway?

"It's not finished," Luke pointed out as he looked at the unfinished designs.

"Yes, yes. I know. But I thought you might want to finish it off yourself since this will be your flagship in a year," Palpatine said.

Luke was so stunned he couldn't make a coherent reply. But Vader-whose shock, frustration, and anger he felt and was sure every force sensitive on the planet could feel-managed to speak for him.

"Excuse me master?" Vader asked.

"Young Skywalker has already shown a leaning towards leadership and protecting the empire. With training, he'll be ready to take his place as the next in command of the empire and it's only fitting he's given his own flagship," Palpatine said. "You are intending to train him, aren't you?"

"Yes master," Vader said after a pause.

It seemed innocent enough, but Luke felt something else from Palpatine and Luke began trying to put it together. According to his father, there were only two sith at a time (according to the rule of two anyway. He heard not all sith believe in that.) and Palpatine followed that rule. So why would the emperor want Vader to train him? Luke looked at his father, and even with the mask, he knew his father was thinking the same thing. Palpatine was trying to replace Vader and who better to replace him than his own son.

"Then it is settled," Palpatine said smiling at Luke, a smile that made Luke want to cringe.

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Leia felt Luke's shock and Vader's anger from across the city, long before Luke came back to the apartment seemingly stunned followed by Artoo who was trying to comfort Luke. He slowly kicked off his shoes, loosened his tie and fell onto the couch next to Leia startling not only Leia, but Mara, who was still mad at him.

"Luke," Leia said to him. "What happened?"

"The emperor knows Vader's my father," Luke said robotically

"What? How did he find out about us?"

"He doesn't know about you," Luke assured. "He knows about me."

Luke proceeded to explain to Leia what had happened and because she was near them, Mara listened as well.

"What else?" Leia and Mara asked at the same time.

Luke was stunned about something and the fact that the emperor knew of his relationship to Vader wasn't it.

"He gave me my own imperial Super Star Destroyer to command," Luke said slowly.

Whatever they were expecting, it certainly wasn't this. Leia and Mara stared at Luke as stunned as he was.

"Wait a minute," Leia said shaking her head. "What?"

At that moment Vader came storming into the apartment much to Luke, Leia, and Mara's surprise. Since when did he make house calls?

"Father," Leia said standing up. "What's going on?"

"It seems our plans have changed a little since the emperor now knows about Luke, Leia. He expects Luke to join us and if he doesn't it could very well ruin our plans to take over the empire," Vader replied.

Luke stood up and shook his head. "It's not just joining him. He wants me to replace father," he said to Leia. "He wants me to betray him."

"Did the emperor say that?"

"He didn't have to Leia. He wants Vader to train me and that implies he wants me to become a sith and there are only two sith at a time according to the rule of two," Luke replied.

"The rule of two?" Leia asked.

"You aren't the only one who digs for information," Luke admitted. "I've been researching the sith and the jedi for months now. Most of it is just legend, but there are pockets of truth in it."

They were all silent for a moment and then finally Mara spoke looking at Luke.

"You do know now that the emperor is going to expect you to be his eyes and ears being that you're the prince of Naboo. It's not exactly obvious that Kylantha is a rebel sympathizer, but everyone knows it," Mara said to him.

"Which is why it now falls to Leia to infiltrate the rebellion," Luke said.

"Me?" Leia asked horrified. "No way. Me and Luke are a team. You can't expect me to do this by myself."

"There's no choice," Vader said finally. "If Luke infiltrates the rebellion, the emperor will expect reports right back to him and it may ruin our plans. But you Leia… Now that Luke has him turning a blind eye to you, you're free to do things we can't.

"But how? I don't know anything about the rebellion. Who do I go too?"

"You don't have to. If you speak the right words and show strength in what you believe in, they'll come to you," Vader assured. "Luke, pack your things. The emperor wishes for you to stay in the palace while you are on Coruscant."

Leia sat on the couch and put her face in her hands and Luke put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'll just a call for help away if you need anything," Luke said. "No amount of pretending to be loyal to the emperor will keep me from you if you need me. You'll be alright."

Leia nodded and grabbed Luke's hand. This was hard. She had nearly lost herself when she thought he was going to die a year and a half ago, but now she had to act like they were slowly but surely becoming enemies.

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_In the next chapter, after a long mission with Vader and the fleet, Luke is happy to be back on Coruscant and the first thing he plans to do is relax at Leia's apartment. But that's short lived when Bail and Winter come by to speak to Leia about her meeting with the emperor earlier. However, when Bail mentions Leia's mother he reveals a past that Luke and Leia were content knowing nothing about…_

I know it's ten o'oclock at night, but it's crunch time at school being that it's the end of the semester and I don't plan on working on math over the holidays. Nothing to say about this except I seriously considered taking a thanksgiving vacation from updating, but decided not to. Hope you enjoyed. Review please!


	9. Secrets of the Past

People, I seriously thought I was getting sick again. I had a headache right above and behind my eye and it was getting on my nerve. It was weird too because I don't get headaches like that. And then it came to mind that I hadn't had coffee two mornings in a row… As soon as I drank it, the headache was gone in minutes. That's not good. My ma says I'm addicted to caffeine and that's probably true… I need to work on that.

Anyway, this was an interesting chapter to write being that it wasn't intended to be a chapter… Oh well. That's how the story wanted to be written and as the writer, I'm only supposed to tell the story.

Read, enjoy, and review!

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**Chapter Nine**

**Secrets of the Past**

"How can we simply let a project like this go? Constantly we're spending millions of credits on war weapons. And everything's always bigger and more powerful than the last thing. What do we need so many weapons for? For a rag tag group of rebels who are hardly a threat. If we only took half that money and invested it in for the good of people who are less fortunate, we could stop that rebellion. They would have nothing to fight us about. And I don't mean planets parsecs away from here. The lower levels of Coruscant alone can use that money to create-."

"Senator Naberrie," Emperor Palpatine said. "I assure you this will eventually be dealt with. But for now we must concentrate the efforts of the empire to stopping the threat of the rebellion."

"Then when will that time be?" Leia asked making a wild gesture with her hands forcing her handmaiden to step back lest she hit them.

"When we have eliminated our enemies and-."

"And when will that be," Leia said hotly and then added quickly, "With all due respect your highness if we simply do some of these things we can stop the rebellion without fighting and bloodshed. They'll have no choice but to bow. If you just look at the budget plan I propose-."

"A motion like that can be made in the senate," said the boy standing next to the emperor seeming very impatient.

"How can it when I can't even get them to look at my proposal?" Leia said deliberately but with a sharp edge to her tone.

He started to reply, but the emperor raised his hand to stop him and he swiftly closed his mouth.

"I'm glad you are concerned Senator Naberrie. But right now our first focus is on the rebel alliance and to do that, we must put more money into the military," the emperor replied.

Leia set her jaw and then in a bold move said, "As if we can't defend the people and help them make a better living at the same time."

"Are you questioning the efficiency of the empire?" the boy asked crossing his arm with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Of course not," Leia said softly feigning horror at the accusation. "I'm just concerned that rebellion is forcing us to make a decision that may be a detriment to the empire either way it goes."

"And I thank you for your concern Senator. But I assure you, everything will turn out fine," he said to Leia leaving no room for more argument. "Guards, escort Senator Naberrie out the palace.

The guards came to flank Leia and Mara. Leia nodded her head to the emperor.

"Thank you for your time your majesty," she said with a bow and went out, but not before meeting eyes with the boy standing near the throne.

_Sorry,_ Luke sent to her.

_It's not your fault, _Leia replied. _See you later._

_Later princes._ Luke abruptly blocked their connection again. Even communication with his sister in the presence of the emperor was dangerous now. When she was gone Palpatine turned to him.

"Very outspoken," Palpatine said referring to Leia. "If we're not careful she could become a threat to the empire."

Luke was silent for a moment and acted like he was hesitant before finally saying, "I don't think so. She's just concerned for the well being of the empire. Surely we can't blame her."

"If that's what she was concerned about, she'd agree that the number one focus should be to eliminate all opposition to the empire," Palpatine said.

"Just because her focus is elsewhere doesn't mean she doesn't believe in the empire," Luke said softly.

"Dissatisfaction leads to rebellion my young friend," Palpatine warned and then added softly in a tone as thought to comfort Luke. "I know that Senator Naberrie is your friend and you went as far as calling her your sister, but you must face it Luke. You've chosen your side and now Leia has to choose hers. Unfortunately, it may be with the rebellion."

Luke fought the urge to roll his eyes and tell Palpatine to cut the act, but instead he turned to look out the nearby window and said, "Leia was my best friend though and for a long time, more than that even. She was my family."

"And now you have a new one, young Skywalker," the emperor said. "You must let go of your feelings for that girl. Whatever they may be."

"It's not like that," Luke replied. "But sure. I'm trying."

Luke would try to severe his bond with Leia when sith hell froze over and in the case that it did happen, he kill himself first.

"Lord Vader says that your training is progressing well, yet you are still reluctant to use the dark side of the force," Palpatine pointed out. "Tell me Luke. Why is that?"

Luke froze. He hated the dark side and he wouldn't use it if he could avoid it. When he used the dark side, he lost himself. His emotions gained control over him instead of the other way around. But he also didn't want to confide in Palpatine why he wouldn't use the dark side. However, he had to say something.

"I… Vader," Luke said. "He tried to kill my mother because of the dark side."

Palpatine was silent for a while as he looked at Luke. Luke watched the emperor out the corner of his eye. Palpatine was calculating something, trying to figure out how to say what he was going to say.

"Hm. No… Your father lost his temper and in his anger he tried to kill her. It's your father's fatal weakness. But you're better than that. The dark side makes you stronger. You have much more potential to embrace it because of your wariness of it. If only you would embrace it," Palpatine suggested.

"I'm trying," Luke said even though he knew darn well he wasn't. "But I don't want to become like him… I don't want to hurt the people I care about because I can't control my emotions."

"You seem to be under much stress young Skywalker," Palpatine said eventually. "Perhaps this would better be discussed when your mind is freer. See Coruscant for the day. Or perhaps try to convince your friend Leia to see our way."

Luke had never been so relieved in his life. "Thank you your highness," he said. "Come on Artoo," he added to the droid behind him and left the throne room.

Four months in the company of the emperor and Vader was enough to drive him crazy. So the few times he was able to get away were like blessings. But he hadn't seen Leia in almost three months. Today had been the first time he saw her in person in a while and it was like a breath of fresh air compared to everywhere else he had been. The emperor had seen fit to send him on missions with Vader and though Luke was finally glad to be back in his element (space, going undercover, sneaking in bases, missions), it just wasn't the same because, one, Leia wasn't with them and two, he didn't like the brutality of the empire.

Thanks to his dad, he now knew of the importance of discipline in the empire, but some of them really needed to lighten up a little. The officers thought he was a welcome change and given that Luke was always inclined to mercy, fewer necks had been choked. But Luke didn't agree with these missions. How was going into relatively peaceful nations, establishing military control and causing people to fear the military that was supposed to be protecting them in the name of finding rebels or rumored jedi keeping the peace? He had asked his father that before and his reply was simple. He needed to ask Palpatine. Luke got the idea.

Most of Luke's restlessness was now gone also. Even though he didn't agree with most of the missions, having something to do and his force training made him content, at least in the area of physical activity. Mentally and a little bit emotionally, he was tormented by new horrors of not the empire, but war in general. And the scary part was that his father, though he had a heart for some things, seemed completely indifferent to it. Was this a natural coldness that came with all war and no nurturing?

It was another reason Luke didn't want to use the dark side. He didn't want to be like that even it was just for Leia. Albeit, that his father did have a soft spot for him and Leia, but only barely.

Luke was so caught up in his own personal thoughts, that he didn't notice when he was back at Leia's apartment. He jumped out the speeder, but Leia was already rushing out to meet him.

"Luke," she said throwing her arms around him, nearly toppling him over.

"Hey princess," Luke said returning the embrace.

Leia pulled back to look at him and smirked. "What have you been doing these three months?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked putting an arm around her shoulder as they made their way back into the apartment.

"You weren't this hard three months ago," Leia said poking him in the stomach. "Are those abs I feel Luke Skywalker?"

"Leia," he said with an exasperated smile. Although she had significantly decreased her antics, Leia's subtle flirting was something that he expected to never go away.

"What?" Leia asked with a smile. "Too bad we're related. Otherwise I'd put into real good use my feminine wiles."

Luke laughed as he sat in the living room, unbuttoned his shirt, and sat on the couch. He closed his eyes. This was home.

"Leia," he said again and Mara rolled her eyes from where she was obviously preparing for company because of the trays that were in her hands.

"I swear sometimes you two seriously push the limit of a normal and socially accepted sibling relationship," she muttered.

"We've never had a normal sibling relationship," the two pointed out together.

"Still," Mara muttered. "Leia and her flirting…"

Leia sat down next to her brother. "Jealous Mara?" she asked.

The girl huffed indignantly, her long dyed brown hair flipping over her shoulder.

"Me? Jealous of farm boy. I think you're mistaken _milady,_" Mara said glaring.

"You sure about that red?" Luke asked with a smirk of his own.

"Don't flatter yourself," Mara warned. "And how can you call me red when my hair isn't red anymore."

"It's naturally red and I like it better red anyway. It suits you," Luke said without thinking. Then he felt Leia's surprise and Mara's confusion as well as something of… he couldn't pinpoint it. It wasn't something he felt from her all the time though. He realized his mistake.

"I mean because of your krayt dragon temper," Luke added dryly and any odd emotion he felt from Mara quickly became fury. She tightened her fist and looked like she wanted to reach for a weapon before turning on her heel and storming back into the kitchen.

Leia wasn't fooled though. She felt her brother's embarrassment through the force and turned around to face him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Luke said trying to remain passive and succeeding thanks to his force training with his father.

"You've always been a horrible liar," said Leia. "Or maybe it's just because I can sense it and it's impossible to hide anything from me."

"I'm not lying," Luke groaned.

Leia wasn't satisfied though. "Well if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll say it for you. Is it just me or were you trying to flirt with my handmaiden?"

"That's ridiculous," Luke muttered.

"Then why the comment about her hair?"

Luke turned to put his feet on the floor and sit up. "Because it was a simple truth. Nothing more and nothing less and I do think red hair fits her better. That's all. Just an opinion Leia. You're seeing deeper into this than it is. I don't like Mara. She tried to kill you, remember?"

"That's bantha shit and you know it," Leia said slipping into a much more casual version of herself. "I know for a fact that you forgave her after she took that stun bolt for me in the under levels."

"The inkling not to trust her is still there though," Luke admitted.

"So you do like her?" Leia asked seriously.

Luke didn't reply, not directly anyway. "Why? Jealous?"

"Want me to be?"

The two stared at each other for a moment before they laughed at each other.

Artoo whistled something to Leia and she laughed.

"Sorry Artoo. It's good to see you too Artoo. Did you have a good time?"

Artoo responded in what Luke and Leia came to interpret as a bittersweet tone for droids.

"What does he mean by that?" Leia asked Luke who was now frowning, his eyes hardening with conflict and turmoil. "Luke!"

Luke blinked and shook his head. "Nothing Leia. You're having company over I see. Who?"

"Senator Organa and her father are coming over to discuss my proposal to Palpatine and how it went. I think I'm getting close Luke. I think they have something to do with the rebellion," she said seriously.

Luke laid back down. "Are you sure about this?"

"Not completely. But I just have this feeling," Leia replied.

Luke shook his head. "That's not what I mean Leia. I mean can you handle this on your own."

Leia paused and then said, "You don't have to worry about me Luke. I'll be fine."

"Just because I don't have to doesn't mean I don't worry about you anyway. The nightmares have come back, haven't they?" Luke asked.

Leia looked away and then looked at Luke. "Sometimes, but now you have them too."

Luke didn't reply. Instead, he looked towards the entryway. No sooner than he looked that way, the doorbell rang and Threepio came in the room.

"Princess Leia. Senator Organa and her father have arrived," he said and then jumped when he saw Artoo and Luke. "Well hello master Luke! I must say it's wonderful to see you again after so long. And Artoo. I trust you've had your fill of adventure."

Artoo made a response and started to go to the back of the apartment.

"Well, I think you need a break from all that war and danger as well. You can help me clean up behind Princess Leia's company later."

Artoo made a dry response and continued to the back.

"Why I never? You can't possibly prefer war and danger to a calm peaceful domestic life…"

Mara came in leading Winter, the newly appointed Senator of Alderaan, and her father Bail behind her. She nodded her head to Leia a little before stepping to the side. Leia stood up.

"Winter, Bail," she said smiling. "It's good to see you again."

"Hello Leia," they both said and then Winter's eyes trail to look at Luke who was sprawled on the couch with his eyes closed. "Luke…?"

Leia blinked and then turned around. She had forgotten Luke was sitting there sprawled on the couch with his shirt open and looking less than presentable.

"Luke!" she said.

Luke opened his eyes and looked up at Bail and Winter. "Sorry. Hi."

Leia put her hands on her hips. "Luke Sky-. Luke!" she said.

"What?" Luke asked confused.

"Didn't Vader happen to teach you something about manners and looking presentable in front of guest?" she asked dryly.

"I'm finally at home. Can you blame me?" he asked with a sheepish smile but got up anyway. "Sorry princess. I'll go rest in my room then."

Leia sighed as she looked after Luke until he went his room and then she turned back to Bail and Winter.

"Sorry about him. He just got back from a long mission," Leia said sighing. "If I had known he was going to be back today I would have rescheduled this for later."

"If you want us to-."

"No," Leia said cutting Winter off. "Come. Sit down."

They were silent for a moment as Mara served refreshments. Winter looked back toward where Luke had gone to and then back at her tea.

"He's certainly… changed."

"For the better I hope," Leia said with a small smile.

"That's what I meant," she muttered as Mara paused. "Vader must have had him on quite the training regimen."

Leia brought her tea to her lips gauging the feelings she was getting from Winter. Of course the woman would wonder about Luke. They had dated briefly, but she never could quite accept how close they were. It was why Luke never had too much interest in girls. They expected him to suddenly put them before Leia and he couldn't do that. Leia chided him that his protectiveness of her was unhealthy and he assured her that he was working on it. But still, she always came first to Luke and no one understood that. But apparently Winter still had a thing for her brother.

"I don't know. I haven't had much of a chance to talk to him. And a lot of it is secret," Leia said shrugging.

"He's alright isn't he?" Winter asked.

"Excuse me for interrupting," Mara said. "But I wasn't aware you all were meeting to talk about Luke and how much he's changed."

Leia looked at Mara surprised as she put the refreshments on the table, turned on heel and left the room. Was that… jealously she was feeling from her? Leia smiled to herself. It was about time…

"She's right," Winter said, a blush painting her cheeks. "We didn't come here for that. So what did the emperor say?"

"Same as always," Leia said sighing. "This is ridiculous. If we keep spending money on the war instead of investing it in the people, we're further distancing them from us. We're practically pushing them to the side of the rebellion and sometimes…"

Leia felt the reactions of the Bail and Winter. She felt their anticipation, hoping that maybe they could trust her with their secret. This clenched it. She was close…

"Sometimes what Leia?" Bail asked.

"I… I think maybe the rebels have a point. There will just be more and more rebellion if the empire can't endear the people to them through caring and I don't think Palpatine and Vader are capable of it," she said putting down her tea and shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I know this is talking treason, but-."

"No," Winter said putting her cup down with a wide smile and reaching across the table to grab Leia's hand. "No we feel the same way Leia. It's okay."

Leia bit her lip to keep from smiling. Jackpot…

"And your mother would have agreed," Bail added. "She wouldn't have wanted you to live the way you have been."

Leia stopped. Now they were going into territory she knew nothing about. Her mother… "My mother? You don't know my mother. I don't even know her."

"We do know her. That necklace," Bail said pointing to the japor snippet that hung around her neck. "It was hers. It was supposed to be buried with her, but it was kept to give to you. You've had it since before you can remember."

Leia snatched her hands back from Winter and stood up glaring at the two.

"How'd you know that?" Leia snapped. "Who are you and how do you know so much about me?" she asked instantly wary and wishing she had a blaster in her hand to add to her no doubt hostile attitude.

"Leia. Don't you remember me?" Winter asked. "I was your best friend before… Before…"

"Before what?" Leia demanded shaking.

"Leia," Luke said coming out the room upon sensing her distress. "What's wrong?"

Luke tried to calm his racing heart, a result of the twin bond he and Leia shared. He blocked out her emotions for a moment knowing that it would do no good if whatever she was feeling put him in the same state she was in. Her face had a hidden fury and sudden caution and she was suddenly very pale staring at Winter and Bail who had both stood up trying to calm her in vain as she backed away.

"What did you tell her?" Luke demanded coming to his sister's side. "What did you say?"

"Leia, it's okay," Winter said. "We're here now."

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked as Mara too came in the room grabbing on to Leia to stop her from shaking.

Bail sighed. "Calm down Luke. We didn't mean to startle Leia. It's just… Leia's my daughter."

It felt as though the world suddenly stood still as the room became deathly silent except for Leia's mutterings. Luke was stunned. Bail Organa was Leia's father?

"What?" he asked and just as he was about to throw the two out for such an obvious lie when he and Leia knew their father was definitely Darth Vader, Bail spoke, obviously sensing Luke's intent.

"I'm sorry," Bail said. "Let me explain. I was there when you and Leia were born and I adopted Leia where she became the princess of Alderaan. Luke was taken to live with his aunt and uncle."

Luke would never get over the irony of the things Leia and he used to speculate about their past. It was no wonder Leia felt like she knew Alderaan when they had gone. It was because she had lived there. At least this also explained the way Bail looked at Leia. It was a paternal longing and fondness.

"When Leia was four, we were on our way to Naboo and attacked by pirates. The pilot had betrayed us. We got away with security, but Leia… You were complaining about your mother's necklace. You had dropped it and I told you I'd get you another one just like it but…"

"You didn't want another one and so when no one was looking in the chaos you ran back to get it didn't you?" Winter asked.

The story matched up too much with Leia's to be a coincidence. Leia told her story the same way except it was less detailed.

"We looked for you Leia," Bail said. "Believe me when I say we did, but they could have taken you anywhere in the galaxy and then your mother got sick."

Leia shook her head rocking back and forth, knuckles white from gripping her dress too tight. "My mother died when I was born. Luke's my family and you took him away from me. You wanted me to let go of the only link to my family I had," she said raising her voice with each word. "And I bet you weren't going to tell me either… You're just like them. You're just like all of them."

Threepio and Artoo came from the back hearing the commotion and upon seeing Leia Threepio jumped startled.

"Miss Leia. You're in clear distress! What's happened?"

Artoo let out a shrill whistle and Threepio turned to him.

"What are you talking about Artoo?"

Artoo made a reply.

"You mean to tell me you had met Leia before?"

Artoo nodded his dome and added something else.

"When she lived with Bail Organa? Our old master?" Threepio asked and then suddenly noticed Bail and Winter. "Oh my! That's a wonderful thing. Miss Leia-. Oh my goodness!"

Leia had stood up and made to move like she might attack Bail and Winter, but Luke pulled her back. She would regret it later if he let her do this. This wasn't her talking and acting.

"Get out!" she shouted. "Leave me alone! I don't want you here!"

"Leia," Luke said pulling her to him. "Calm down."

Leia put her head in Luke's chest and shook her head. "Luke, make them go away. Make them stop! Make them be quiet."

Luke turned his head to look at Bail and Winter sympathetically but also coldly. When something made Leia react like this and have one of her panic attacks, it was best to get rid of the cause of her disturbance.

"I think you should leave. Jade, will you escort them out?" Luke asked.

Any other time Luke asked Mara to do something, she gave him trouble, but even she could see the urgency of the situation, and it wasn't the time to be difficult with Luke.

"This way Senator," she said firmly leaving no room for argument as she waited for them to start towards the door.

Bail and Winter, who had tears in her eyes, hesitated before finally relenting and leaving with Mara trailing behind them. Luke sighed and led Leia back to the couch.

"Leia," Luke said gently rubbing her shoulders. "Leia come on. It's okay. Snap out of it."

Slowly, Leia stopped trembling and muttering and the glassy look that had been in her eyes started to go away. She blinked a few times before stopping completely. However, she still clung to Luke with a death grip. But Luke didn't mind. Leia just needed to be held, to know he was there. He was only glad that Bail and Winter hadn't dropped this bombshell on her when he had been away. Otherwise, he would have ended up fighting Vader, half the fleet, and Palpatine himself to get to her. He was the only one she would listen to when she was like that.

They sat for a while in silence. Luke was only vaguely aware that Mara had taken Threepio and Artoo out somewhere to give them some time alone in the apartment. Luke remembered a time before this when everything had seemed so complicated but now that he looked back on it was so much simpler. Luke didn't know Leia was his sister at the time, and they knew close to nothing about the force. All they knew was that they had to survive, and the only thing they had were each other, two droids, and the _Amidala._

Leia touched Luke's mind and they shared the memory, the memory of it all finally catching up to Leia when things calmed down after Affavan, when the nightmares started, and she dreamed of the officer on Tatooine trying to rape her. They had been thirteen at the time, and Luke didn't know what to do. All he had known was that his best friend was in pain, and so he crawled next to the shaking girl in the small cot and wrapped his arms around her as she clung to him because he was the only one she trusted to protect her and make it all go away while he stroked her hair.

It comforted them both, as running away from Tatooine hadn't been the first time they had felt truly alone and abandoned. It was just easier to cope with it when they were kept busy and around people where they could pretend they weren't alone.

Most people would say that they were a bit too intimate for siblings, but Luke and Leia didn't know how to act like normal sibling because their upbringing had been anything but normal. Besides, no one understood what they had gone through so who better to go to for comfort than each other.

"You alright Leia?" Luke finally asked.

"Yeah," she said sighing in contentment. "Sorry."

Luke nodded. "It's okay, but if you don't mind me asking… Why?"

"Because it all came back Luke," Leia said furrowing her eyebrow. "I remember Bail and Winter. But the thing is I didn't want to. Whatever connection I had with them is gone Luke. I don't feel it anymore and I don't want them to think just because I was part of their family for four years means I'm still part of it now. I don't owe them anything. I know it's cold but…"

"I get it Leia," Luke said softly. "But you didn't react this way to Vader and to be honest... well…."

"Vader's my father Luke. There's no way around it. I'm connected to him and he didn't know, neither of us knew and he was just like us Luke. He's just lonely. He lost mom, his best friend and the only one he really was able to talk to, and they stole us away from him. I just feel like we've been controlled and taken away our whole lives and the first time we really experienced freedom was when we ran away from Tatooine."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked sitting Leia up to look at her.

"Don't you remember?" Leia asked tilting her head before saying softly, "we cried when they separated us. They took us away from each other. It was in the name of protecting us, but it was no better than those pirates kidnapping me to be a slave."

"I don't remember like that Leia," Luke admitted. "But I do remember always feeling like something was missing, like someone had taken something from me. That's why when I was little Aunt Beru used to have to sneak in my room to throw old toys away because I wouldn't let her."

"And it just scares me Luke. What if I hadn't been kidnapped? Would they have ever told us? Would we have ever found each other?" Leia asked starting to rock again. "Force Luke, they probably would have made me hate my own father. I wouldn't have been able to see that he's not completely evil."

"And I probably would have gone on to become a jedi without thinking about it," Luke added staring off. "But we're in control of our own destiny now Leia. You don't have to be afraid and wary all the time anymore. We made our own way and we still are."

"Are we?" Leia asked. "Or are we just trying to kill the emperor because Vader wants us to?"

"We wouldn't have agreed with him if that were the case," Luke said knowingly.

Leia smiled and then sighed. "Then I know what I have to do then. I have to talk to Bail and Winter. If I don't infiltrate the rebellion there will never be peace in this galaxy. We have to convince them to stop the fighting. I don't know what father wants us to do, but this war can't keep going or no one will win it."

"Are you sure? Bail and Winter are going to treat you like you're part of their family," Luke warned with a teasing grin.

Leia nodded. "I can do this. Besides, I don't blame them. Bail and Breha cared about me like I was their own even if I don't feel that way. I can't just shoot them down like that. They thought they were doing the right thing and maybe at the time it was, but I know what it's like to think I have nothing and I don't think Vader should have been tricked like that. They shouldn't have tried to trick us."

"Tell me when you decide to go," Luke said. "I'll go with you."

"They're not going to talk about the rebellion around you Luke. It's okay," she said touching his arm. "I'll go alone."

Luke nodded. "Alright. But just know I'm here."

"I know Luke. You've always protected me. But I need to learn to stand on my own. I can't keep letting my past bother me like it does. And you don't always have to come running to my aid."

Luke sighed and leaned his head on Leia's. "I know that. How do you think I was able to stay gone with Vader so long?"

"Speaking of that, how was that?"

"The force training's going well except Vader's frustrated I won't willingly use the dark side," Luke muttered dryly.

"Willingly?" Leia asked. "What do you mean willingly?"

Luke stared ahead of him for a moment and Leia lifted her head off his shoulders in concern.

"What is it?"

He shook his head and sighed flexing the fingers of his mechanical hand which was covered by a black leather glove that Leia was sure he wasn't wearing before he left three months ago.

"Nothing princess," he said a little annoyed at his sister's persistence.

"You liar. Don't shut me out. You always make me tell you what's bothering me or what happened to me. Tell me what happened. You can't expect me to be open with you and then bottle everything up inside. It's not fair."

"You've been through a lot more than I have Leia," Luke said to her. "It's not that important."

"If it's bothering you, it is to me," she said and Luke stood up to pace the floor before finally responding.

"This war is horrible Leia. I can't stand it. It makes people do things that they normally wouldn't do. I don't know how dad takes it every day. He seems so indifferent to it," Luke replied. "Well he seems that way. I know he's not. That why he's so angry when people mess up. People pay a price Leia and I saw it first hand," Luke replied.

"The rebels, the rebellion… It was Lianna all over again except this time, I didn't get there in time. They bombed the weapons factory, but it wasn't just the people who worked there that got bombed Leia. There were women and children who lived near the factory, families who got blown up in the name of ending the corruption of the empire Leia," Luke replied to her.

"Luke," Leia said sighing.

"Vader wasn't there. I was working alone and I tried to get everyone out in time. I really did, but the rebels snuck up on us. I won't tell you everything, but when I tracked them down, they were celebrating victory. And it pissed me off. What kind of victory is bombing a factory where innocent people are just trying to make a living? They had nothing to do with what was going on," Luke said as he fell back on the couch.

"So?" Leia asked.

"I remember looking through the wreckage and there was a little girl in the rubble and she reminded me of you," Luke admitted.

"What did you do Luke?" Leia asked.

"I killed the whole lot of them Leia. And to tell the truth I didn't even know I was doing it. I was just so angry at them for being careless, not knowing what they had done and I didn't completely immerse myself in it, but I just held onto it and lost it. Mind you, I had the sense to have the troopers round them up out the place they were in so I didn't disturb anyone who didn't have anything to do with it, but…"

"But what?"

"I scare myself sometimes Leia. I don't want to be like dad. I don't want to use the dark side, but sometimes I just can't control myself. It's like my anger took over and I see what the jedi meant," he said.

"Are you saying they didn't deserve to be killed for that?" Leia asked crossing her arms. "Luke they killed-."

"I know alright," Luke snapped raising his voice as he snapped his head to look at her. "You don't have to tell me, but they didn't deserve to be killed like that. I should have cooled off before I went to them and separated myself from the situation. Now I don't know whether I was doing it in the name of justice or a sick sense of revenge on behalf of people who had no say in the matter. I don't want to be like that Leia… I don't want to be cold and heartless like that"

Leia frowned, not at all fazed by Luke's hostile attitude. "Is this about what the jedi told you about dad trying to kill mom?"

"Yeah," Luke admitted silently. "I don't want to lose control like that and hurt you one day Leia. I couldn't live with myself. I'm…"

Leia raised her eyebrow at Luke. "You're scared of that side of yourself. The need to protect and shield people is one of the best parts of you. But when you fail to do it or you thinking you're failing at it, it brings out the worst in you."

Luke didn't reply but Leia didn't need him to.

"Luke, you can't protect everyone and I think that's what the jedi meant when they told you about your tendency to run to protect me. When you think you can't do it, you lash out in your guilt over it. So maybe it will be good for you if I can learn to stand on my own two feet. Maybe it'll help you figure out that just because you failed to protect someone doesn't make what happened to them your fault. In any case, you should talk to father about this. Get his side of the story. Ask what happened when he attacked mom. I'm sure it's make you feel better," Leia said rubbing his leg before getting up to go to her room.

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Leia shuffled nervously in front of the door to Bail and Winter's Coruscant apartment. She calmed herself by taking deep breaths and carefully drawing into the force, just enough so as not to gain the emperor's attention.

The door was opened by a protocol droid that looked similar to Threepio, but one that Leia instantly knew lacked his charm and unique personality.

"Right this way Senator Naberrie. You can wait here in the den while I go get them," the droid said.

"Thank you," Leia said clasping her hands in her lap.

It wasn't long before Bail and Winter came in the room and Leia wished it had been longer so that she could formulate what to say. They sat in the area and Leia could feel their obvious tension and anticipation from not knowing what to expect from her.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding," she said to them. "But you weren't picking up your com."

"It's alright," Bail said. "Did you need something?"

Leia sighed. This was going to be hard, especially since it was only half sincere.

"I just wanted to say that… I'm sorry for my outburst yesterday," Leia said quickly. "I didn't really mean it. It's just…"

"What?" Winter asked.

Leia sighed. She didn't have to tell them everything. They only needed to know just enough. "I haven't had an easy life and I just over reacted. You see Luke has been the only family I've known for a while and I just thought you would want me to let him go or something. I was scared. I almost lost him once and I thought you wanted to take me back to be part of this lost family."

"No. Of course not Leia," Winter said. "We wouldn't want to force you to do anything you didn't want to and we shouldn't have been so forward. It's just that we thought you were dead all these years and then suddenly you show up alive? It's all so overwhelming."

"Yeah. I know," Leia said looking off to the side.

"You look so much like Padmé," Bail said. "She would have been so proud of you especially knowing that you believe everything she does."

"What do you mean?" Leia asked.

"You don't agree with the empire either," Winter said

"What's that got to do with anything?" Leia asked trying to play dumb. "We can't do anything about it."

"But that's where you're wrong Leia," Bail said. "We can fight back. And with you and Winter's position in the senate we can give the pretense that we're with the Empire and feed information to the rebellion."

Leia was cheering on the inside, but had to keep up the pretense of being conflicted and so said, "The rebellion?"

"I know this is a lot to take in, but don't have another nervous breakdown on us," Winter said quickly and winced at the glare Leia sent her way. "Sorry. Just let us explain."

And so Leia let them explain and by the end she was really biting her lip in serious concern. This was it. If she said yes, she and her brother would have to act like enemies one day.

"I… I don't know," she said uncertain.

"Leia come on. It's in your blood. You know this isn't right," Bail said reaching across to put his hand on her knee, but Leia recoiled more from instinct that it being a conscious effort.

"It's not the only thing in my blood," Leia muttered not quite sure if Bail knew that Vader was her father or not. He did.

"We know," Bail said to her. "But it's up to you to make a choice between what's right and wrong."

"I know," Leia said. "But Luke… I tell him everything. He'll be able to help us."

"Luke's too close to Vader to tell about the rebellion Leia," Winter admitted to him. "What if Vader forces him to sell us out?"

"I'm close to Vader too," Leia admitted. In fact, she was probably closer to Vader than Luke was. Luke was always reluctant to talk to Vader. Leia wasn't. In fact, she had been pestering Vader about teaching her how to use the force and he taught her what he could in secret so as not to gain the emperor's attention, which meant it wasn't much.

"But you're different. You don't agree with the policies of the empire. Luke's so tangled in the web he works for the empire, and he's starting to commit the same atrocities as Vader."

Leia narrowed her eyes, her temper threatening to get the better of her. They didn't know anything. Luke wasn't like that. He was putting up an act and most of the times Vader did the work while Luke tried to make him lighten up. "I trust Luke with my life and so far I'm still alive. I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't think he was trustworthy."

"Leia," Bail said. "We have to be careful. We can't risk the empire finding out. Please…"

Leia pretended to contemplate the offer in silence, but in reality she was trying to make sure she was ready to make this step. It would really be the first time she had done anything on her own, without Luke. But that's why she was there. That's what it was all about. If they wanted this to work, they had to influence both sides.

"Alright," Leia said finally. "How can I help?"

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Luke paced outside of Vader's office as he waited for the man to open the door. He didn't understand his father. He came back from mission for a short break and got right back behind a desk to handle business. It was ridiculous…

"Then I shall see you then Lord Vader," came a voice that Luke was all too familiar with. Tarkin…

Tarkin nodded his head only slightly to Luke as he came out the room and then left. Luke did the same and resisted the urge to shrug. That man gave him the creeps.

Vader looked at him as he stood there and crossed his arms.

"Is there something you want Luke?"

"Hello to you too father," Luke grumbled walking past him and sitting down in front of his desk.

"You can't tell me you came here simply to enjoy my company," Vader commented dryly.

"Would it really be that shocking?" Luke asked with a ghost of a smirk on his face.

"The only person you would simply go to for the enjoyment of company is Leia," Vader pointed out as he sat down.

Luke sighed. Vader could always corner him. There was no fighting with his father less he end up completely humiliated by the end of the day.

Vader held back a sigh at Luke's iron will to be difficult with him. He briefly wondered, only briefly, if Obi-wan had felt the same way when he was younger. He then paused to regard Luke.

"Something is bothering you son," he stated and Luke cursed Vader's ability to read him so well.

Luke didn't say anything for a while, and it wasn't until he felt Vader losing patience that he did say something or blurt it out more so.

"Why did you try to kill my mother?" he said quickly.

Vader wasn't quite sure what Luke said, but he heard the words, you (referring to Vader), kill, and mother. Instantly Vader got the gist of his request.

Annoyed with Vader's sudden silence, Luke sat up in his seat. "Are you going to tell me?"

"I… It's in the past now. It doesn't matter anymore," Vader replied. "Now I have a new mission for us to go over. Its on-."

"Father," Luke pressed. "I want to know why you tried to kill mom. What did she do to you that you would try to kill her while she was pregnant?"

Vader continued to ignore Luke and in his frustration Luke stood up to glare at his dad.

"Tell me!" he demanded.

Vader regarded Luke for a moment and the stood to his two meter height to tower over Luke with his arms crossed.

"Repeat that?" he asked.

Any other time, Luke may have been intimidated by his father's posture but he only returned the posture and stared his father dead on, even though he probably risked making his father lose his temper.

"I need to know why you tried to kill mom and I'm not going to leave until you tell me."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Oh I don't know," Luke droned sarcastically mentally joking to himself that he had been around Vader too long if he was picking up his sarcastic tendencies. "Maybe because you tried to kill her in the first place. Maybe because the emperor won't tell me because I get the feeling he's trying to turn me against you or maybe because I don't want to become a cold unfeeling heartless monster like you did?"

Vader's temper flared and he clenched and unclenched his fist as he stared at Luke. Luke wisely made a step back deciding it might be a good idea to get as much space as possible between he and his father as possible in case he had to run for it. He really hadn't meant to say that last part quite so bluntly but it just came out that way. His father was angry and though Luke knew that Vader took a lot of crap from he and Leia, even that statement had been overboard.

Vader unconsciously started to raise his hand to choke Luke but then saw a fear flash in Luke's eyes, the same flash he had seen in Padmé's eyes when he choked her. He lowered his hand and turned his back to Luke.

"Sit down," he said.

Luke actually wasn't sure that was a good idea considering the darkness he felt coming off of Vader, but did so anyway when he noticed it wasn't as wild as before. It seemed like Vader was actually trying to contain his fury.

"First of all, I didn't try to kill your mother or at least, that wasn't my intention. Who told you that?"

"Obi-wan said you tried to choke her which pretty much translates into trying to kill her. Leia thinks you had a reason for it even though she thinks you went too far. So why? What did she do that made you want to hurt her?"

"I thought she betrayed me," Vader replied.

"She what?" Luke asked.

"All I wanted to do was save her from dying and Palpatine promised me that he would help me save her. Everything I did, I did so I could get the power to save her and when I tried to make her see that she rejected it all. She didn't want it. I could have convinced her to come with me, I know I could have, but then Obi-wan came off the ship and I thought she brought him there. It wasn't until later when I thought about it that I realized she was denying it and if there's one thing your mother never did it was lie to me," Vader explained. "But by the time I realized it, Obi-wan had already taken her away from me and she died."

Luke's knuckles were white as he gripped his chair and the words of the jedi came back to him. So this was what they meant? Leia had been right. Vader hadn't meant to hurt their mother and he felt an empathy with Vader that he hadn't felt since Luke had stopped a mass genocide. Luke then realized that in his effort to not be like Vader, he was already just like him. The force whispered to him and Luke shook his head to himself.

No. He was just like Anakin Skywalker, the person that was still buried underneath Vader somewhere. Afraid of what would happen if he didn't do everything he could to protect the one he cared for and Leia inherited the other half which was her fear of betrayal and inability to trust anyone when it looked like they weren't trustworthy. It was a piece of them tinged with darkness that had the potential to become full blown evil. So that was what the jedi meant, even though they couldn't tell him like that? How could they when they had never really cared for anyone like that?

"I… I'm sorry for calling you a monster," he finally said. "I didn't know."

"No. You're right," Vader said quietly. "I am a monster, but you and Leia don't have to be."

Luke frowned at Vader's words not quite getting what he meant. But instead of asking about it he stood up to leave. But first he looked at Vader and said, "I'm sure mom forgave you for it. But even if she didn't, I do."

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_In the next chapter, here comes Han Solo to visit Luke and Leia after seeing them on the holonet. While Luke and Leia (especially Leia) are thrilled, after a stunt involving racing in Coruscant territory, Vader is less than impressed with him especially because he's distracting Luke from his duties and Leia seems smitten with him. But Vader has to deal with Solo later because soon afterward and attempt on Leia's life is made. But something is strange about it. Either Luke's force ability has been waned because of his preoccupation with Mara or Leia's not really the target…_

Alright. There we go and Arc two is drawing to a close… Darn I can't believe it's already been eight weeks since this Arc went up. In any case, Han was supposed to come back in this chapter, but the chapter kind of got out of hand and so Han got his own chapter which also got out of hand… Anywho. I hope you enjoyed and I have a three page essay to write. Review Please!


	10. The Return of Han Solo

**AN:** Another 11k+ chapter. I really didn't mean for it to get this long, but it got way out of hand. But I owe a long chapter anyway. So after this chapter there's one more chapter in this arc and we can move on to Arc Three which is the final arc. But would you mind if I took a break? That would mean next Monday which is the 13th of December, I'd post the last chapter of this Arc and start the new Arc on the 27th which would put us right after the major holiday when everyone's busy anyway… well I won't be busy with it. Me and my family don't celebrate Christmas but I know a lot of my readers probably do and I like to take into consideration that people go out of town (and if you're staying with relative like my grandma, they still live in the stone age, meaning no internet)…

Alright, enough talking. Read, enjoy, and review!

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**Chapter Ten**

**The Return of Han Solo**

"Luke," Leia said from where she was sitting on the couch surprisingly playing a video game. Then again, it was a simulation shooting game and since the girl loved any chance she got at practicing her shot, the game was perfect for her. "It's for you."

Luke sighed as he paused their game and grabbed his com.

"Yes master," he droned sarcastically.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that," Vader's voice said over the com. "But I'd just like to know if you finished picking your crew for your flagship."

Luke shrugged as he hooked the come to his shirt and started playing the game with Leia again.

"Almost I guess."

"Almost?" Vader echoed.

"I still need a second," Luke said. "But I haven't met anyone I'd like and I don't want it to be some old guy with twenty years of experience who won't listen to me."

"You really should stop procrastinating this Luke," Vader warned.

"I'm not procrastinating but it's hard to have to pick my second on my ship, when I don't know if we'll relate or not," Luke said sighing.

"Honestly Luke. One would think you were looking for a wife and not a second in command," Vader muttered.

"Don't be so dramatic."

"I'm not. That would describe you," Vader pointed out.

"I'll have one before it's time for me to take off on it. Relax father. I'm just waiting on the force. Something tells me not to choose yet," Luke replied.

"Every time I want you to do something, you always say you're waiting on the force as a reason to put it off."

"And it always works for me. I haven't made a terribly bad decision yet," Luke replied. "Talk to you later father. Have a great day."

Luke turned off the com before his father could reply and Leia laughed.

"You and father are funny," she said with a smile.

"Consider yourself lucky you don't have to work with him all the time," Luke muttered.

Leia scowled. "I rather do that than work with the rebellion to tell the truth."

In the two months Leia had been an active member of the group that was determined to take out the empire, she hadn't really said much about it and when Luke pointed it out she shrugged.

"That's because there's not much to say about it to tell the truth. It's not all it's hyped up to be," she replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what it means. Mara will tell you. They can barely get organized and they've got the wrong idea. They can't just take out the emperor and Vader and think it's over. They had to do away with the entire system and let them know that they mean business. Trying to act like the victim to endear the rest of the galaxy only makes them look like punks," Leia replied turning off the game and throwing her controller to the side.

"Any info on them yet?"

"Only that they're looking for a way to destroy the Death Star. I swear. A bunch of ametuers. They've attacked the thing countless times which is why the empire had to hide it so they could keep building it. You attack something that big three or four times, the least they could do was try and get it down for the count," Leia muttered.

"I'm glad they didn't," Luke muttered with his arms crossed.

"Why?"

"Because there are more than just some imperial officers aboard that ship. There are innocent men and women trying to make a living on that thing, even slaves," Luke added.

Leia scowled. "I've been trying to petition to the empire and the rebellion that this slavery issue needs to be dealt with. You and I certainly dealt a blow to the black market, but we haven't been on the scene in years and there's only so much a set of force twins, and two droids on a Naboo Cruiser can do. It's seems like the concerns of the empire and the rebellion are in the wrong place. The rebellion says we don't have the men to spare, but if we spare the men and free thousands more, we've already increased our ranks. No doubt they would feel obligated to help us after we helped them," Leia said sighing.

"I wish we could just take some of these high class senators and officials, drop them off in hutt space with no titles, no money, no luxury and let them see the real horrors of slavery up close and personal," Luke muttered.

"And let them make a living on a moisture farm. You didn't exactly have the easiest life either," Leia pointed out.

"Sometimes I wish my life was that simple again. I hate playing this political game," Luke sighed before standing up. "I better get back to the palace before Vader gets angry about me putting off my responsibilities again."

"You do that all the time so I don't know why he's still bothered about it," Mara said coming into the room.

"I was wondering where you were," Luke said feigning disappointment in seeing her.

_You two really need to stop it, _Leia said as she watched them. _Why don't you just ask her out?_

Luke ignored Leia's attempts to play matchmaker and lifted an eyebrow at Mara. "You look hot."

Mara turned to give him a shocked expression and Leia covered her mouth to hide her giggles.

"What?" Luke said and then mentally replayed what he said and turned red. "Not that kind of hot you. I mean sweaty."

Leia burst into laughter behind him.

_Shut up Leia, _Luke sent.

"Whatever," Mara said grabbing some water out the kitchen.

_But come on. Admit it. You do think she's hot all the time, _Leia asked.

Luke again ignored his sister as he went to the back. Leia stood up as well figuring she should go into her office today and work on her petition for aid in the effort to end slavery in the outer rim. Hopefully if the proposition was good enough and proved that it wouldn't inconvenience the fleet, the emperor and the senate would have no reason to ignore it or shove it aside.

_I doubt it,_ Luke sent picking up on her thoughts.

_But at the end of the day I can't say I didn't try, _Leia replied.

"Who are you?" Mara asked at the door. "And who's the furball?"

Luke poked his head from the back hearing Mara's angry rants. He exchanged a look with Leia and decided to go find out who it was. Whoever it was had a familiar presence.

"Well I think they would have told me if they knew some scoundrel like you. The guards downstairs didn't stop you at the door looking like that?" Mara shot. "And you do know you could get in trouble for bringing non-human life-forms here."

"Now you listen here sweetheart. I'm telling you I know the people who live here and if you just let me in, I can prove it. And don't insult him. He's my friend human or not. Prejudice or something?"

"Not at all," Mara said shrugging. "You'd be shocked the aliens I've been around. I'm just saying you could get in trouble for bringing him here since mostly everyone else is prejudice against aliens. Especially, your giant walking floor rug."

"Mara who-?" Leia asked coming up behind her handmaiden and then blinking in surprise. "Han!"

"Han?" Luke said looking at him and then breaking out in a grin. "I knew the presence was familiar."

"I'm hurt. You don't look at all happy to see me now that you're both royalty," Han said.

_Hasn't changed a bit, _Luke pointed out to Leia as they both went up to hug the man.

"Hey kid, princess," Han said returning the gesture before giving Mara a nasty look. "Told ya."

Behind Han, Chewie growled and pushed Han aside to lift Leia and Luke off the ground in a hug.

"Good to see you too Chewie," Luke started.

"But we can't breathe," Leia finished.

Chewie put them down and the two got out of the doorway to let them in. Luke poked his head out the door to make sure no one was there that had seen Chewie. They were really strict about bringing non-humans outside the provided district for them.

"Pretty snazzy place ya'll got here," Han said looking around. "Who would have thought? From fugitives to royalty in less than five months after we parted. If I had known that, I would have stuck around."

"Yeah," Luke said exchanging a look with Leia. "You missed a lot."

"I'm sure kid," Han said and then gave them both a once over. "Well you're not exactly a kid anymore. You and princess have grown up. Really grown up," Han added, his eyes lingering on Leia for a moment.

Leia, noticing his lingering stare turned red and averted her eyes. Luke raised his eyebrows and then looked at Mara who gave a small smirk. So he wasn't the only one…

"So what have you been up to?" Luke asked breaking the moment.

Han snapped out of his stupor and shrugged. "Nothing much. A little smuggling here and there. Ran the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs thanks to the Falcon."

"You actually got that hunk of junk off the ground?" Luke teased.

"Oh ha, ha. I happened to make some personal modifications to it. Bet it can give the _Amidala_ a run for her money," Han challenged.

"We'll just see about that," Luke said. "How about we race right now?"

"I thought you had to go," Mara said raising an eyebrow.

"One race won't take long. What I needed to do can wait a little longer," Luke dismissed going to put on something more casual instead of the more formal uniform type clothing he wore to the palace.

Leia looked between Han and Leia and then she too went to get ready. She was Luke's co-pilot and there was no need to change that now. Twenty minutes later, they were all on the landing pad above the apartment.

"Where are we racing to?" Leia asked.

"What's the closest planet?" Luke asked

"That would be Hesperidium Master Luke," Threepio said. "It the luxury moon of Coruscant. I hear it's-."

"Alright goldenrod," Han said. "We get the idea. To Hesperidium, circle around it and back. First one back on the landing pad wins. Me and Chewie against kid and princess."

"Jade," Luke said. "You stay here and referee. We need someone to tell who wins. Let's go Artoo and Threepio."

"If you don't mind Master Luke, would you mind if I stayed here with Miss Jade?"

"Whatever Threepio," Luke said going up the ramp to their already started ship.

Luke and Leia got on their ship and turned on the com so they could hear Mara. Artoo connected to the computer and Luke instructed, "If anything goes wrong, let us know or fix it Artoo."

"You two ready to lose?" Han asked over the com.

"In your dreams scoundrel," Leia replied helping Luke get ready for takeoff.

"Are you all ready?" Mara asked.

"Just call it sister," Han replied.

"Go!" Mara said and both ships lifted off the ground and then shot into the sky toward the luxury moon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Vader spoke with the emperor about the mission to the outer rim to investigate rebel activity, his senses went off, his father sense… Just then a guard came in.

"Excuse me milord," he said nodding his head. "There are two unauthorized ships travelling at high speeds toward the Hesperidium moon."

"Did you try getting in contact with them?" Vader asked.

"They aren't answering and they don't have the clearance to be travelling at such a high speed. They're putting the surrounding fleet in danger," he said.

"Do they appear to be attacking?" the emperor asked. No one would pull such a bold move.

"No sir."

Vader frowned. "Show me their positions on the monitors, until then try to get into contact with them or disable them."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Stang that ship really is fast," Luke muttered as he glanced at the _Falcon_ on the monitor. He frowned. "Hey Leia, what's those two ships coming behind us?"

"I don't know," Leia said inspecting the monitor. "I'll try and get into contact with them."

No sooner than she had said that, Luke felt a warning and dodged a missile.

"What the kriff was that?" Luke asked.

"I don't know, but I'm turning on the shields," Leia replied. "Han, did you just get shot at?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," said Han over the com.

"Those are imperial fighters," Luke observed. "There must be a misunderstanding. Leia pick up their frequency."

"I'm trying, but that's hard to do when they're shooting missiles at us," Leia said going over to the computer controls for the manual cannons.

"Only shoot to disable Leia," Luke warned. "Don't get trigger happy."

"I didn't plan to," Leia said smiling as she was reminded of the times they had to outrun the empire, particularly when they fled Lianna almost five years ago.

A tie disappeared from the monitor and Luke scowled.

"Leia!"

"I didn't shoot it," she said.

"Ugh," Luke said as they approached Hesperidium and got ready to circle it once. It was hard to race and make sure he stayed ahead of Han while trying to get ties off their back.

"Han, don't shoot them down. Just disable," Luke instructed.

"Sorry, reflex," Han said sheepishly. "Did you hear that Chewie?"

A growl was heard over the com coming from Chewie and the Luke turned his attention to Artoo.

"Get the frequency on the ties," he told the little droid who was whistling and beeping in excitement.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vader carefully inspected the monitors and observed as one of the ships dodge a missile. He frowned. They was only one other person he knew who could dodge a missile with that kind of accuracy and keep going. In fact, it looked like the two ships were racing. Vader vowed he would kill his children one day.

"We're picking up a radio frequency sir," one of the communications control men told Vader.

Vader went over to the controls.

"_Queen Amidala_ to Imperial center. Do you copy? Stop your attacks. We're not on a threat," Luke's voice came over the com.

"Luke," Vader said to him with apparent anger.

"Oh sith," Luke muttered. "Nice to hear from you Vader. I was just heading your way but had a little detour."

"What are you doing? Do you know you're threatening the security of the empire doing whatever it is?"

"What?" Luke said in disbelief. "Oh come on. Any idiot could tell we're just having a race. Threat to security. Really, uptight officers…"

"You do know it's illegal to do that unauthorized in Imperial center territory," Vader said resisting the urge to yell at his son. There would be time for that later.

There was a pause. "Seriously?"

"I don't see why you're so surprised," Vader replied. It didn't matter how much he tried, he could never fully eradicate Luke and Leia's blatant disregard for rules that didn't make sense to them or their convenient ignorance of them.

"Could you call off the ties Vader?" Leia asked.

"I shouldn't. But I will so long as you get back here right now," he said. "The palace hanger I mean."

"We were on our way back to Coruscant anyway. We'll meet you there right after our race," Luke replied.

"No. Now," Vader said cutting the communications and heading for the hanger.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Didn't have to be so mean about it," Luke grumbled. "Han. Change of plans. We're headed to the palace hanger."

"The palace?" Han asked and Chewie growled something along the same lines.

"Just do it. Leia tell Jade and Threepio to meet us at the palace hanger."

"Already done," Leia replied.

Luke gripped the controls tightly as they sped into Coruscant's atmosphere.

"And here's the tricky part," Luke said to himself trying to take the quickest route to the hanger without crashing into the traffic.

"Luke, are you nuts?" Leia asked him as she noticed what he was doing.

"We're going to win this race," Luke said determined.

Leia shook her head muttering something about men, ships, and their egos. Then she looked out a side window and said, "And that scoundrel is dumb enough to follow you."

"The scoundrel you happen to like," Luke added.

"Wha-What?" Leia sputtered.

"As if I didn't notice the way you blushed and got all nervous when he looked at you," Luke said carefully navigating between the lanes and heading toward the palace.

He slowed down just enough so he had time to stop in the hanger and saw Mara looking at them from inside her speeder.

"We won," Luke exclaimed.

"Did not. It's obvious I won that by a long shot," Han said over the com.

"No way," Luke said unstrapping himself and heading out the _Amidala_.

He met Han coming down his ramp and the two proceeded to argue, not noticing an impatient, angry, and irritated Vader standing off to the side with his arms crossed and if one felt the force carefully, somewhat embarrassed by the act of his reckless, supposed to be adult children.

"It was a tie," Mara said. Han and Luke looked at her like she had grown two heads.

"You're kidding. No way we tied," Luke said turning Threepio. "Threepio who won?"

"It was me wasn't it goldenrod?" Han asked.

Threepio looked between them. "Oh my. Perhaps I should."

"Threepio," Luke said.

"If I must say. Master Luke's ship came into the hanger point zero, one, two-."

"Forget it," Han said dryly.

"It means we won," Luke said smugly.

"It's means this droid has way too much time on his hands," Han shot back.

Both Han and Chewie continued to argue with Luke and Artoo, who decided to join, as Mara, Threepio, and Leia sighed.

Now tired of waiting, Vader strode over to where they were standing.

"That's enough," he boomed startling Han and Chewie. But Luke, Leia, and Mara simply turned to look at him unperturbed.

"You were here. Tell Han who won?" Luke said hoping his father had seen the outcome of the race.

"The last thing in the galaxy I'm concerned about is whether you won a race or not. Do you understand what pulling a stunt like this could have done for the security of the empire? Do you know what would have happened if I had not been here on Coruscant to handle this?" Vader snapped.

"Well we didn't know we couldn't race," Leia muttered.

"But I'm sure your handmaiden did princess," Vader said turning to give Mara a stern look who only shrugged.

"What was I supposed to do? They wouldn't have listened to me. They never listen to me. Besides, I'm just supposed to go along and make sure Leia doesn't get hurt," she pointed out.

"Regardless, you both should have known better," Vader said pointing a finger at them.

"We didn't know. Lighten up. No one got hurt and it's not our fault your idiot flight monitors couldn't tell the difference between a race and a terrorist attack," Luke said dismissively.

"That's it. You're grounded," Vader said firmly to Luke and Leia laughed before he said to her, "I meant you too princess."

Luke and Leia's jaw dropped in disbelief before they both laughed.

"You're kidding," they both said with a challenging look.

"Either that or I'm going to stop resisting the urge to force choke both of you," Vader said crossing his arms and meeting their stares.

Leia's temper exploded first. "You can't do that. We're eighteen. Who do you think you are?"

Vader started to remind the two _exactly_ who he was until the man standing behind them spoke up

"Uh, excuse us," Han said interrupting them. "I just want to know if me and Chewie are the only ones here who think it's weird that you're both talking to Darth Vader like he's-I don't know- _not _Darth Vader!"

Vader turned to look at Han and intimidated, Han took a step back.

"Who is this?"

"Oh yeah," Leia muttered to Han ignoring Vader. "We forgot you weren't there when we met him."

"Darth Vader," Luke began sarcastically as he was in a foul mood at his father, "meet Han Solo, an old friend. Han meet Darth Vader, my father."

"Pleasure, I guess," Han muttered and then what Luke said registered. "Your what?"

Vader stared at Han for a moment, and Luke and Leia knew in that instant he was sizing up the man trying to decide whether he liked him or not. They weren't surprised when he did finally speak considering Han was a grown man, dressed like a scoundrel, had just raced the teens, and scared the hell out of the fleet a few minutes ago.

"I can't say that the feeling's mutual Mr. Solo," he grumbled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Darth Vader," Han was muttering back at their apartment. "Darth kriffing Vader is your father Luke?"

"Actually," Leia said to him. "He's my father too."

"What?" Han asked wondering if his face was going to be permanently stuck in an expression of shock.

"We couldn't mention it at the palace because the emperor doesn't know about Leia and we want to keep it that way," Luke said giving Han a pointed look.

Han nodded. "Got it, but do you two want to explain how this all happened?"

"Why Mr. Solo," Mara began. "One would think at your age you knew the technicalities and details of reproduction."

"Oh ha ha. Nice one red," Han said to her.

"Red?" Mara asked.

"I told you the color suits you," Luke replied.

"But seriously," Han said putting a hand on his head. "What?"

Luke and Leia patiently explained what had happened after they left him on Cloud City from Tytus on Alderaan, to him cutting off Luke's hand, to Dathomir and Tytus almost killing Luke, to Leia finding out Vader was her father and then finding out Luke was her brother.

"So let me get this straight. Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker.

"Yes," Luke said.

"And when he became mister tall, dark, and scary, your mother gave birth to you two, the jedi separated you and then you met ten years later?" Han asked. "And Vader saw Leia's necklace which belonged to her mother and put two and two together and then found out Luke's surname and came to the conclusion that you two were twins, sent you to Naboo, where you became the prince and princess and that led to where you both are now?"

"That about sums it up," Mara said very impatient with the confused smuggler.

"I always knew you all were too close to not be siblings or rolling around in the sack one," Han said dryly.

"Han!" Leia snapped.

"I'm just saying," Han said innocently. "So one more time, your father was Anakin Skywalker who became Darth Vader, killed all the jedi, has a less than great reputation, and works for the most evil guy in the galaxy."

"Yes," Luke and Leia said without so much as blinking an eye.

"And you're okay with that?" Han asked with his hands on his hips and raised eyebrows.

Luke and Leia exchanged a look before saying, "Yes."

"Alright then. Although I still get the feeling I'm missing part of the story," Han said running a hand over his face. "As long as you're okay with it, so am I. Otherwise, I'd be shooting and banging my way out of Coruscant with you two in toe. How about we go out for some dinner?"

Leia wanted to go somewhere more formal to which Luke telepathically replied that she could go on a date with Han later. So it was decided that they would go to _Biscuit Baron_, a fast food restaurant that had become one of Luke and Leia's favorite spots to eat when they were tired of formal dining and dinners. Unfortunately since non-humans weren't allowed in the district and Luke and Leia couldn't risk anymore trouble by going into the underground, Chewie had to stay behind. But Threepio and Artoo happily volunteered to keep him company.

The serving droid came to them and took their order.

"Let's see," Luke said starting to order for himself and Leia. "Two jawa juices."

"Make that three kid," Han pointed out.

"Four," Mara added and Han looked at her.

"You old enough to drink that stuff red?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Because Jawa juice is an alcoholic beverage sweetheart," Han pointed out. "You're what? Thirteen?"

"Sixteen," Mara said glaring at him. "And you're the former smuggler so what do you care about rules?"

"Just saying sister," Han said.

"Four jawa juices, two bantha steak burgers light on the sauce on one… change that no sauce on one, one large onion ring, a large fry, one vanilla and one chocolate milkshake with extra whip cream over the top."

Han shook his head as he looked as his own menu. "Well your appetites certainly haven't changed in the last two years."

"You're one to talk," Leia said leaning back in her seat as Han ordered his meal and then Mara did the same.

"I still see you do that freaky twin thing with that hokey religion of yours," Han said.

"Not so loud," Leia said. "Someone over hears we're force sensitive and we'll have imperial guards on us before we can take it back or at least I will."

"Why is that?" Han asked.

"Long story but it isn't safe to tell you now," Luke muttered taking his jawa juice from the droid and passing one down to his sister. "But why don't you tell us what you've been doing the last two years after we left."

"Well, me and Chewie stayed on Cloud City for a few days before taking off. Got some jobs smuggling, ran the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs, and almost got in trouble with the empire a few times," Han muttered. "Hung out on Tatooine for a minute and got a job there but that messed up because the empire almost caught us and we had to let the cargo go."

"You had to let it go? What were you smuggling?" Luke asked suspiciously.

Han shrugged. "Nothing important," he said.

Leia raised her eyebrow in obvious disbelief of Han, who noticed her stare and said.

"You two been back to Tatooine lately?" he asked then in what could be called a rather grim tone.

"No. Why?" Luke asked.

"That place has really made a turn for the worse and that's saying something for Tatooine," Han muttered munching on one of Leia's fries.

"What do you mean?" Mara asked. "I've been there before and while it wasn't much to see, it wasn't that bad so long as you stayed out the major cities."

"That's the point. If you all thought it was lawless before, it's less than that now. All kind of stuff going on. Ever since they say a slave and her boyfriend killed her master and an imperial and ran off, it's definitely not a place you want to be if you're a slave. The hutts have gotten even worse. They say Jabba drops at least two or three people into his rancor pit a day and that's not even counting the public executions and hangings," Han replied. "Me and Chewie barely got away from there alive. It's practically anarchy there."

"Aren't the moffs doing anything about it?" Leia asked. She may have hated her life there, but Tatooine had still been her home for three years and the place she met Luke. She'd always have an odd concern for the planet.

"Let's face it sweetheart, the empire doesn't exactly have the time to send troops down to Tatooine to round up all the scum and have them punished. Besides, if they don't see themselves getting anything out of the planet in the long run, they don't see the point," Han said.

"Actually," Mara began. "We could learn something from the moisture farmers there. They could actually help on other planet suffering from famine and drought who don't have the equipment or talent to get water by other means besides large bodies of it."

"So no one's doing anything to help at all?" Luke asked and Leia and Mara sensed the swift mood change. Mara rolled her eyes and muttered something about dealing with a miserable Luke.

"It's hutt space kid. To be quite honest, no one cares."

"I do," Luke muttered. "In the midst of all the madness that goes on there, there are good people living there. My aunt and uncle are still there…"

Han sighed. "Sorry kid. I wasn't trying to be insensitive about it. I'm just stating the facts.

Luke didn't reply, but he was strangely quiet after that to which Mara said, "Now look what you did pirate. You put him in a bad mood."

"Not that you care," Leia joked and then set a hand on Luke's thigh. "It's okay Luke. I'm sure your aunt and uncle are fine. Maybe father will let us go there."

Luke laughed. "He wouldn't trust us to go because knowing us we'd start some kind of revolution and take the planet under our rule or something. Besides, I still haven't told him who's going to be my second and no doubt he'd talk about me pushing aside my responsibilities."

"Farm boy really," Mara said rolling her eyes and throwing a tomato at him. "You'd know if something were wrong with them. You've got senses that can sense something bad happening long before it happens. So don't waste your time wallowing in sorrow and worry."

Luke lifted his gaze to set a cold glare on Mara and Han muttered, "I always knew that glare felt too much like looking at Darth Vader for it to be a coincidence."

"Easy for you to say. You've never had a family before," he shot. "You don't even know who they were. So of course you can just say that."

Mara was silent for a while looking ready to strangle Luke for a second before she stood up saying, "I'm quite aware of that without you having to remind me and I wasn't trying to mean for once. I was actually trying to make you feel better."

"You've got some way of doing that," Luke snapped as his own temper started to get the best of him.

"You know as hard as you try not to be like Vader, you sure are a lot like him you soft, whiny, spineless bastard," she said and stormed out the restaurant.

"Ouch," Han said as he stared after her and then glanced at Luke who was obviously in a bad mood now. So to lighten the mood he said, "Your girlfriend's mad at you kid. I think this is the part where you realize how much of a jerk you were being and go after her."

"That's enough Han," Luke said standing up, dropping enough credits on the table to pay for the meals before he too left the restaurant.

"Well I don't know about them," Han said turning back to his food. "But I'm not going to let all this go to waste."

Leia laughed as she picked up her sandwich and ate her food.

"What's with them anyway?" Han asked.

"Long story," Leia replied. "In short, Jade was an assassin who tried to kill me but we managed to sway her over to our side. Luke didn't forgive her for trying to kill me for a while though and so they've never gotten along. But even after Luke finally let go of her past, they still have this odd love-hate relationship."

"In other words, Luke likes red and she likes him but they're both too stubborn to admit it," said Han.

"More or less," Leia said. "Jade is incredibly blunt though, which is exactly what Luke needs. However, Luke has tried the relationship thing before and it didn't exactly work out."

"Why?"

"For the same reason I've never really dated. We won't let anymore disrupt our relationship and most people don't understand that. If a tossup between a girlfriend and me, Luke chooses me without hesitation every time and I do the same for him," Leia said looking out the window.

Han was silent for a moment before saying. "But you want a relationship don't you?"

Leia glanced at him out the corner of her eye. "I can't honestly say the thought hasn't crossed my mind. But no one understands my relationship with Luke so I doubt I'll ever find that kind of companionship."

"You're only going on eighteen and you sound like you're thirty. Giving up so soon," Han asked. "You know how many hearts you've just broken."

"I'm not saying I've given up. I'm just saying I'm not looking for it. If the right guy comes along and understands then I'll go for it," Leia replied.

"I understand," Han said suddenly and Leia laughed turning to Han expecting to see him grinning.

"Han…" she trailed off when she noticed his serious expression. And it wasn't an act. His very presence was serious in the force. She frowned. "Han what are you trying to-?"

Leia stopped looked out the window for only a second before she grabbed Han and pulled him under the table just as a mini explosion sounded and all the windows in the diner shattered.

"Stang it," Leia said as she carefully crawled from under the table trying to avoid the glass on the floor. She stood up and looked at the area outside in front of the table. Whoever had done that was only trying to get to her and Han's table for they only got the front part of the diner where they were sitting.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

As Luke walked outside he went over what he said to Mara and sighed. Maybe he had been a little harsh to her. She didn't act like it because she always had on the mask of indifference, but it really bothered her that she had no family. And now that Luke thought about it, he did nothing to make it better by not trusting her. Someone had to give her a chance and welcome her and although Leia had extended her hand, Luke blocked it because to be honest, he was afraid to let go of stepping outside of his comfort zone with Leia. It might not have been his fault though. After the third time of thinking you could trust someone only to be stabbed in the back, who could blame him.

But if anything Mara had proved herself trustworthy. Ever since she had been with them, she hadn't faltered in her loyalty to them, and it was time Luke stopped being afraid to let her in. It would be easier on her and him, as now he could stop fighting whatever he was feeling towards the girl.

It wasn't hard to find her. Over time, her presence was one he was always aware of one way or another. She was standing about a block down on the next corner from the diner and to Luke's shock, she was crying.

"Jade… Mara," he decided instead. He had dealt with a crying Leia all the time and if he had learned nothing about girls from her (which he had), it was best not to point out that they were crying, especially with a girl a hard as Mara.

"What do you want Skywalker?" she asked wiping her eyes already on the defense in case Luke pointed out her tears. He didn't.

"I'm sorry," he said not quite meeting her eyes.

Mara stopped wiping her tears. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry, for everything," Luke added.

Mara looked at him oddly for a moment and then anger flashed on her face as she stomped over to him. Luke caught her hand as she made to slap him.

"I don't know why you try that," he said patiently.

"You bastard! You think just saying sorry is enough? Oh you'll be sorry once I'm done with you," she said as she tried to tackle him. Luke had to hold her back.

"Mara," he said patiently. He probably deserved this anyway.

"Let me go Skywalker. When I'm done with you I'm going to-."

"You really make this hard on a guy," Luke shot.

"On a guy who's been a jerk to me since we met, but wants to lead me on with his bouts of acting like a real gentlemen like he's herding bantha," Mara yelled.

Luke rolled his eyes more amused by Mara's temper than angry.

"You do know I can do this all day. Me and Leia are tight but we've had our fist fights before and after a while I learned that it was easier on both of us if I just held her back until she got tired of struggling," he informed.

"What do you want?" Mara said as she stopped her struggles and when Luke was sure she wasn't going to attack him again, he let her go.

"I… I don't know," Luke admitted

"You're an idiot Luke Skywalker. How are you going to come and say sorry for everything expecting me to receive you with open arms and you don't know?" she demanded crossing her arms.

"You and your bluntness," he muttered.

"You and you secretiveness," she shot back.

"Ugh. Mara, you just don't get it," Luke said solemnly. "You just don't know what I've been through, what me and Leia have been through."

Mara stomped up to him and managed to smack him upside the head in his moment of distraction.

"Well of course I don't know. You won't tell me Skywalker and your sister is about as tightlipped as you are when it comes to that stuff. But if you're willing to open your mouth and talk instead of acting like a rampaging rancor when you're around me, I'll listen," she said obviously frustrated.

Luke looked at Mara who was waiting impatiently with her hands on her hips, wavy hair blowing in the wind as cars flew by above them.

"Alright," he said.

"Finally."

"But not here," Luke said grabbing her hand to take her somewhere more quiet. But then they heard a loud booming noise, but it wasn't big enough to shake the street.

"Oh come on," Luke said sighing.

"Let's go," Mara said guiding him the other way instead. "But we're not done Skywalker. We're going to finish this later."

In about an hour, Luke had called in storm troopers for back up as he tried to get an idea of what had happened. In the end judging by the answers of the witnesses, the most logical conclusion was that it had been an assassination attempt on Leia.

"Any other conclusions," Luke asked with his arms crossed.

From where Han said, he shook his head. "With a little more height he would be as intimidating as Vader. Where is he anyway?"

"Luke can handle it. The emperor has thrown a lot of responsibility on him since last year," Leia grumbled.

"Secure the perimeter just in case the assassin comes back. I'll personally escort the princess home." Luke instructed and the troopers nodded leaving to follow Luke's instructions.

"Never a dull moment," Luke said as he came over to them. "I'm tired of all this."

"You haven't even begun your real job though," Leia pointed out as they all climbed into the imperial escort vehicle. "So any leads."

"Not one," Luke said. "The detonator was a particularly weak one and it was a pretty common brand so we can't really pin it down to someone in our databases."

"Someone like who?" Mara asked. "A bounty hunter?"

Luke nodded grimly.

"So what's that mean for Leia?" Han asked concerned.

"It means I get to play decoy tomorrow and take care of Leia's affairs," Mara said happily. "Good. I was beginning to become bored."

"That means I can get Vader to help me investigate this further," Luke said getting ready to contact his father.

"Hold on Luke," Leia said putting her hand on his hand. "Everyone knows Prince Luke and Princess Leia are a package deal and that whenever Prince Luke is home, he accompanies her to her sessions in the senate when their in session."

Luke sat back. "Stang. You're right. Change of plans then," he said. "I'll go with Mara tomorrow and Han and Leia get in contact with Vader to investigate the assassination attempt."

Leia and Mara looked at Luke in surprise.

"What?" Luke asked noticing their look.

"I think I get it," Han said. "No offense Luke, but when it comes to Leia, I'd rather fight a rancor with rabies than try to stop you from her. I saw some of the stuff you pulled on people when you were worried about her. Why so eager to go with red over there?"

"I am not eager to go anywhere with Mara," Luke said but without the undertone of malice that was usually there when he denied something that had to do with the younger girl. "I just figure I'm keeping Leia safer by going with Mara and acting natural."

Leia crossed her arms as she looked at Luke and then Mara. Something had happened between them in the few moments that they had been gone. Luke usually did his best to avoid having to spend more time with Mara than he had to and here he was perfectly content with spending a day or more with her. Luckily, she sensed that then wasn't the time to bring it up and so kept her mouth shut. There would be time for that later. But she couldn't wait too long.

So before Luka and Mara left, Leia pulled Luke aside with her arms crossed and said bluntly, "What's going on between you and Mara?"

"You've been hanging out with her too much. You're not usually this direct," Luke pointed out and then seeing that she wasn't amused said, "It's nothing at all. What makes you think that?"

"Luke," Leia said with a wry smile. "You're a horrible liar."

"It was nothing. We were just talking," Luke said and despite his convictions a blush colored his cheeks

"About what? You seemed pretty eager to be spending a whole day with Mara." Leia said now starting to tease seeing that her brother was flustered.

"Am not," Luke said.

"Hm… Can I trust you to be _alone_ with her all day?"

"Leia really," Luke said now a little amused. Amazing how impressionable a four year old was when there were women around who talked like that all day. Leia never came across as the type to say things like that but she had gotten it from being around prostitutes when she was younger.

"Just saying," she said starting to walk away.

"But why are you so worried about me," Luke said to her retreating form. "Mara's only sixteen. You and Han however are perfectly legal. I should be asking whether I can trust you and him."

Leia stopped walking, her sudden discomfort about the subject apparent in the force.

"There's nothing between us," she said trying to regain her composure.

"Sure. And you weren't obviously uncomfortable about something and avoiding Han when we got back last night," said Luke.

"It was nothing. We just talked."

"About what?"

"Luke," Leia said and when Luke didn't back down she caved. Only he and Vader had that kind of effect on her. "He asked about you and Mara and then we got on the subject of if I had dated."

"You're not telling me everything," Luke said knowingly. "But okay. Just make sure you behave."

Leia couldn't tell whether Luke was teasing or serious by his tone. It was likely he was very serious about it as she did feel the undertone of a warning, but not for her. It was for Han. Luke took overprotective to a whole different level…

"Relax. Chewie will be here."

"But Chewie can't leave or he'll get in trouble," Luke pointed out as he went out to where Mara was waiting in a speeder dressed like Leia, right down to eye color and the blonde streak in her hair.

"Still," Leia said waving to him. "Make sure you behave!"

Luke didn't even acknowledge Leia as he got in the driver's seat and pulled off from the apartment, their security following them.

"I still can't believe you could tell the difference last night even with both of us dressed in a handmaiden's garb and Leia shielding our presences so you couldn't use the force," Mara said.

"I know you and Leia like the back of my hand. I could pick you two out of a whole crowd of look-alikes," Luke said.

"Both of us?" Mara asked. "Well you tell me?"

"Leia's about a centimeter shorter than you and her face is slightly longer. You're a little broader than her in the shoulders. You're both thin, but you're…" Luke trailed off.

"I'm what?" she asked.

"I think I'll keep it to myself," Luke muttered not looking directly at her.

"No what?" Mara said frustrated.

Luke sighed not wanting to argue with the girl and muttered, "You're a little curvier than she is."

"In a good way like a nice figure or a bad way like fat?" Mara asked with a smirk.

"Definitely in a good way," he said and then realizing how he said it resisted the urge to kick himself.

But Mara didn't seem angry by it. In fact she was looking at him with a quizzical expression.

"What?" he finally asked.

Mara shrugged. "You're different somehow. Usually you would have said that and then added something to make it an insult."

"I'm not that bad," Luke said.

"You call me red because you like my hair but tell me it's because of my bad temper," she said bluntly.

"That's different. You _do_ have a bad temper," Luke said amazed at how casual Mara could talk about this.

He, however, was uncomfortable with the subject and so didn't say anything else to her until they were sitting in Leia's box. Well actually, she started the conversation again.

"How does Leia sit through this stuff," she asked. "It's boring."

"Leia's a natural born politician. She understands this stuff. She used to read books about politics all the time," Luke said bored.

"I can tell. She was working on a proposition for the senate all night before I finally made her turn off the light."

"What proposition?"

Mara shrugged. "I don't know but she was really into it. I've never seen her so focused on something." She sighed again. "Would it be impolite to leave early?"

"Leia would kill us," Luke said dryly.

"Then how about we finish the conversation we were having last night?" Mara suggested.

Luke looked at her to find that she was staring straight at the ongoing debate in a posture similar to Leia's. It was almost like she wasn't even talking to him.

"This isn't exactly private," he said feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"Why not? No one's in this box but me and you and no sound gets out of it if we don't want it to. We're not listening to the debate and we're going to be stuck here for a while unless an emergency comes up which I doubt. I've got you all to myself for a few hours and you're not going to get away like you always do," she said.

"Mara," he said beginning to protest.

"Look Skywalker," she said with an impatient edge to her tone. "I know you like me. And don't try to deny it. If you didn't you wouldn't be so back and forth with me. But I'm not going to even let you even approach me about a relationship until you tell me everything so when you do have your crazy mood swings, I'll know why even if you don't want to talk about it."

"You don't make things easy on a guy," Luke said pretending to pay attention to the debate.

"I don't make things easy for anyone," Mara replied. "And even if that were the case, you don't make things easy on a girl."

"Fine," Luke said. If he didn't do it now, he'd find a reason not to do it later.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vader watched his daughter and the pirate closely. They had come in because they needed his help to investigate the assassination attempt on Leia, but that wasn't what was bothering him. There was some type of tension between the two and he didn't appreciate it. He didn't like Solo to begin with. He disliked him more when he found out he had run away from his post on a Star Destroyer that had been hijacked, with the hijackers no less. Now he hated the sight of him because it was obvious he had an attraction toward his daughter and Leia was above a smuggler. If he thought rationally though, Leia had been about as bad if not worse than a smuggler when she was a fugitive. But that was different. She was his daughter and besides, protecting his daughter and being a father didn't have to be rational when it came to men, especially ones that were ten years old than Leia.

"I don't understand it," Vader said as he went over the reports from the crime. "Logically we would assume that it was an enemy you had made in the senate. But none of your proposals have passed yet. Even so, they wouldn't be dumb enough to try something as obvious as that knowing you're close to Luke who the galaxy knows works closely with me. It would be incredibly foolish knowing we'd find them."

"Then maybe it was an old enemy that recognized Leia," Han suggested.

Vader looked at Han slowly and Han almost cowered under his gaze. He got the feeling Vader didn't like him for some reason.

"Elaborate Captain Solo," he said.

"Leia's made her fair share of enemies before she ever stepped foot into a senate arena, smugglers, pirates, senators, bounty hunters, crime lords…" Han muttered. Vader paused. There was something about the way he said that. "Someone could have recognized her."

Vader swiftly dismissed the idea. "Again, it would be foolish."

"Besides," Leia added, "Either all my enemies I made out there are dead or their too scared to come after me. Me and Luke instilled quite a bit of fear in those guys. But I'm not sure why. I found some of them much more intimidating than me and Luke."

Han looked at her incredulously and then said, "I don't know either Leia. I can't imagine why they would be afraid of two force sensitive kids with blasters in hands and the guts to go through with whatever threat came out their mouth and no fear. Not at all intimidating."

Leia only gave a smug smirk before becoming serious again.

"There's only one thing that disturbs me," she said.

"What?"

"Luke didn't sense that I was in danger," Leia replied.

"Well, he was trying to make things right with your handmaiden so he could have been distracted," Han pointed out.

Vader shook his head. "Luke always knows when something isn't right with Leia or she's in danger and vise verse. He wouldn't have missed it." Then what Han said registered.

"What's going on between Luke and Mara?" he asked.

Leia rolled her eyes. "It's complicated. They're both to stubborn to admit they're attracted to each other."

"Your mother and I were like that. But Luke shouldn't waste his time on matters like that. It would serve as a distraction. He pushes off his responsibilities enough as it is," Vader said.

"Oh lighten up," Han muttered forgetting who he was talking to. "The kid has more on his plate than most eighteen year olds do. I think he's entitled to a girlfriend and some romance if that's what he wants."

Vader slowly turned his helmet to look at Han who wisely closed his mouth.

"They aren't eighteen yet," Vader said.

Leia scowled. "Dad, our birthday was a week ago."

"No it was not. If I recall correctly your mother was still pregnant with you before the end of the clone wars. In fact, she was pregnant with you the last time I saw her and if she had you shortly afterwards, your birthday coincides with Empire day. Therefore your birthday is actually a little less than two weeks from now," he informed and then got back to the task at hand. "Still, it's odd that Luke didn't sense you were in danger."

"Unless we weren't the target and they mistook me for someone else," Leia said.

Vader became acutely aware of how nervous Han seemed to be and acknowledged him again.

"You seem to be a little uncomfortable Captain Solo. Do you want to share with us why?"

Han didn't fall for it and said, "I can't imagine why I wouldn't be comfortable in a room with you Lord Vader."

"I warn you not to try my patience captain."

"I wasn't under the impression that you had any," Han said boldly.

Vader lifted his right hand in the ever so familiar gesture that meant someone was about to be choked but Leia put her hand on his glove and pushed it down.

"Really father. He's not as bad as you think. Perhaps we need to go back and investigate the scene of the crime," Leia suggested hoping to get rid of the tension between her father and Han.

"You are correct," Vader said and swiftly left the office.

Leia gave Han an apologetic look and followed him. Han meanwhile began to seriously question whether he should keep dropping hints to Leia about pursuing a relationship. She was fine, but Vader just might be the death of him if he found out.

He was eternally grateful when Vader backed out of going with them saying that there was work he needed to do and so he was a lot less tense as they looked for clues in the currently blocked off diner.

"I can see where you and Luke get your personalities from," Han said dryly.

"Really?" Leia asked as she inspected the area they had been sitting in.

"Not the nice part. I'm talking about the scary stuff."

Leia tried to scowl at Han, but it came off as more of a smile.

"So does that mean I intimidate you Captain Solo?" Leia asked.

"Sure I'm intimidated by you. But not in the way you think princess," Han admitted a little nervous by Leia's boldness.

"In what ways then?" she asked feigning innocence.

It amazed Han how she could go from serious to playful and teasing so fast. Perhaps she had picked up the hint he dropped the previous night, before the explosion.

"I'll get back to you on that one," Han said rubbing his neck.

Leia simply hummed and crossed her arms.

"That detonator was planted here after we sat down," she said.

"How would you know?"

"It could have been a thermal dart or something, but I would have sensed it flying through the air. I don't know how they managed it though. But it could have been anyone. Hundreds of people walked by this spot yesterday and none of them looked suspicious."

"They didn't have to. Some bounty hunters hire shape shifters to plant stuff," Han pointed out.

"How would you know? Only someone whose been chased by a bounty hunter knows that stuff?"

"And you've been chased by one?" Han asked trying to steer away from that topic.

"Me and Luke had loads of them come after us. We had bounties on our heads in multiple systems, but after what we did to the three that got to us, no one was bold enough to come back. Well, Boba Fett did and the only reason he isn't dead is because he escaped. I got to say he's good," Leia said.

"You don't think he would come back after you or anyone you knew if he was paid the right price, do you?" Han asked and Leia noticed how nervous he suddenly was.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Are you okay Han?" she asked suddenly standing up directly in front of him to face him.

"Yeah princess, but there's something you might need to know-."

Leia whipped around suddenly and put her hand out to stop the small dart that nearly embedded itself in her neck. It floated in mid-air and then she carefully brought it to her hand inspecting it.

"Well speak of the devil," Leia muttered.

"What?" Han asked.

"I remember this. Boba Fett used it to try to kill Luke once but it missed his neck and got into Luke's arm. Luke's arm was swollen for a few days and we had to get an antidote from the hospital but he was fine. But this thing is fatal if it gets into the neck and spine so the venom in it instantly works to shut the brain down and destroy the nervous system," Leia said. "In fact, these are the exact darts Boba Fett used."

"So what now?"

"Call Luke." Leia said simply.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mara was an ice queen and not much got to her. But even she couldn't say she didn't feel anything as Luke explained his and Leia's history. It was no wonder they were so cold sometimes. They had good reason to be. No one would ever really understand their story.

As they aimlessly walked around the immaculate senate building past the tall marble pillars, she couldn't help but feel disturbed. She always thought Luke and Leia were two rebellious teenagers that happened to meet and decided to cause trouble. But it had been nothing like that. They had been forced to do everything they did.

"You know, I used to think my life was a mess, but you and Leia…" Mara muttered. "I may not have gone through anything like that but I understand it now. I sympathize with you."

"I… Don't think like that. Just because me and Leia's past seems a lot more tragic, I guess would be the word, doesn't mean your troubles are any less significant. It took me a while to figure that out and it wasn't until I spent time with my dad and talked to him that I understood," Luke admitted quietly. "I'm sorry and I hope that you can forgive me and maybe…"

Mara stopped and turned to Luke. Her feelings weren't quite clear in the force and Luke didn't know whether he was nervous and couldn't interpret them right or if it was because she was confused. For a moment, Luke thought she was angry for some reason and was about to slap him again. So he started to roll his eyes and ask her what he had done now until she reached up and pecked him on the lips.

"You're forgiven," she said waiting for his reaction as he tried to process what had just happened.

Then he let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and sighed. "That's great. For a moment I thought you were going to-."

"You talk too much farm boy," Mara said reaching up to kiss him again and this time Luke kissed back not stunned like he was the first time she had done it. Then Mara suddenly pulled away.

"What?" Luke asked unable to keep from grinning.

"This isn't weird to you?" she asked. "I mean I am dressed like your sister."

Luke shrugged. "I told you even if you're dressed like her, you still look different."

"But-."

"And now you're talking too much," Luke said pulling her to him again.

The next time they pulled apart, it was Luke's com that did it.

"What?" Luke asked a little agitated.

"Luke?" Leia asked confused. "What's your problem? You and Mara didn't fight again, did you?"

"Oh. Leia. No we haven't fought all day," Luke said unable to stop the smile that came to his lips.

"Me and Han are going back to the palace to meet Vader. I think I know who it was," she said.

"You have wonderful timing sis," Luke muttered more to himself than Leia.

"Why? What did I interrupt?"

"Nothing. We're on the way," Luke said dryly.

"What's up with him?" Han wondered aloud to Leia.

Leia frowned. "I don't know. He sounded irritated that I was calling."

"And that's saying something since you _never_ irritate Luke," Han commented

Leia wasn't that concerned about it though. She asked Luke later after they figured this out. When they got there, Luke and Mara were already there (no doubt because of Luke speeding through Coruscant) and Vader was pacing in his impatience.

Han stopped at the door though to look at Luke and Mara.

"You two look kind of flustered over there," he commented off-handedly.

Mara simply smirked and Luke simply kept his eyes where they were, glued to the ground.

"So what did you find?" Luke asked Leia.

Leia held up the dart. "It's Boba Fett," she said simply as she handed Luke the dart. "He tried to get me again today."

Luke looked at Leia confused. "That's weird. I didn't sense it again."

"Was anything distracting you?" Leia asked.

Luke avoided her eyes. "Kind of…" he said trailing off.

"With Mara again huh?" Han asked. "Kind of a coincidence if you ask me."

"Now hold on just a minute you smuggling sithspawn bastard," Mara said putting her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know-."

"Calm down Mara," Luke said from next to her and then looked up at Han. "It's okay. I trust her."

Everyone turned to Luke in stunned silence. Luke was always one to give people the benefit of the doubt and see the good in people, but that didn't mean he trusted anyone. In fact he only trusted his sister which was a horrible weakness of his if combined with his secretiveness.

"You're dating now aren't you?" Leia asked bluntly.

"You all can discuss these frivolous matters of the heart later," Vader said although he too was now curious about Luke's love life. "Now tell me, why would Boba Fett be after you."

Leia shrugged. "I don't know. But if he's after me he's after Luke too. I just don't understand why he would come after us again. The last time he came was right after we met Han and that was three years ago."

"Then we know it's not something we did on the run together because he could have easily gotten me when I was with Mara on the sidewalk yesterday," Luke said shaking his head.

"Then it has to be someone from the senate," Vader replied.

"I haven't done anything in the senate. I can't even get anyone to listen to me in there. For the most part they ignore me," said Leia.

"And it still doesn't explain why Luke didn't sense either attempt," Mara said.

Luke and Vader suddenly looked up at Han at the same time with their heads cocked to the side, realization dawning on them at the same time. One didn't have to be force sensitive to feel Vader's anger.

Luke on the other hand was only a little amused and said to his father, "I think Han wants to tell us something father."

"I was just thinking the same thing son," he said with his arms crossed.

"What are you two talking about?" Han asked trying to keep his cool but that was hard to do when Darth Vader and Vader Jr. were looking at him.

"That bounty hunter isn't really after Leia is he?" Luke asked. "Boba Fett's after you."

"That's-."

Vader cut Han off pointing a finger at the man. "I'm warning you Captain Solo. Choose your words wisely. I can tell when you're lying and if you lie the least of your worries will be a bounty hunter."

Luke sighed and went up to Han.

"Look. I'm not going to go all dark on you and try to kill you and we won't let Vader do it either," Luke added sensing his father's smug attitude.

"Don't make any guarantees Luke," Vader warned.

"We can't figure this out if you don't tell us what's going on," Luke urged ignoring his father.

Han sighed. "You remember that cargo I said I had to dump because the empire docked on the _Falcon_?

"Yeah," Leia said looking at him in confusion. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"I owe the person it was for some money," Han said.

"What was the shipment?" Luke asked.

"Glitterstim." Han admitted guiltily.

"Glitterstim?" Leia asked and then put her hands on her hips. "You were smuggling drugs. Han Solo. You dirty no good nerf herder. And they say me and Luke were crazy. We never smuggled drugs!"

"As if you never smuggled for Lando's mining operation in Cloud City," Han muttered.

"Force damn it," Leia said to him. "It wasn't drugs. The least of your worries will be my father or Luke. I'm going to murder you."

"Princess, wait a minute," Han said but Luke pulled Leia back.

"Calm down Leia."

"Did you calm down when Mara tried to kill me on Naboo?" Leia snapped.

Luke ignored her. "Who was it for Han?"

"You just might kill me for this one," Han muttered. "Ever wonder why I was on Tatooine?"

Luke let his head fall back. "Please don't tell me that shipment was for Jabba."

"Then what should I tell you," Han asked.

"How much do you owe him Han?"

"A little over ten thousand credits or so," he admitted. "But I swear. I didn't know he sent a bounty hunter after me. I told him I'd pay him back… Then again I kind of took off from Tatooine and told one of his associates to pass it on, not to mention I killed one of them. They don't play on Tatooine anymore."

"You're practically a walking dead man pirate," Mara pointed out. "You've already got three strikes against Vader and now a Bounty hunter, one of the best there is no less?"

"That's four strikes," Vader corrected. "He should have been dead on the last strike."

"So what now?" Leia asked.

"We bait Boba Fett," Luke said a plan already formulating in his head.

Vader stopped him. "I regularly employ Boba Fett for his services. It should be simple enough to get into contact with him. Besides, I want the pleasure of killing Captian Solo for myself."

"You take the fun out of everything," Luke said rolling his eyes.

"You don't have the right to anything fun," Vader said simply. "As I recall, you still haven't chosen your second."

"Yes I have," Luke said smugly. "I told you I was just waiting for the force."

"You told me that yesterday and judging by the things your friend has caused, I doubt you've had the time to revisit the databases and find a suitable second," Vader replied.

"I didn't need to look through the databases. My second came right to me," Luke said.

"Who is he then?" Leia asked curious herself.

"Han," Luke said cheekily.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After a long debate between father and son and surprisingly with Leia helping Luke vouch for Han despite the fact that she was angry at him, Vader finally relented and agreed to reinstate Han into the fleet erasing any mention of his dishonorable discharge (especially after he found out it was mostly Luke and Leia's fault). Han didn't know whether to be ecstatic or whether to dread it. He would again be directly under the command of a teenager ten years his junior. But he learned that Luke and Leia were a lot less obnoxious that they had been two or three years ago. But obnoxious was a strong word, Han decided, and so he blamed their bossiness and leadership skills on Vader. It was genetic. They couldn't help it.

Amazingly, Leia had also convinced Vader to not only pay off Boba Fett (Luke and Leia were still laughing at his reaction when he found out the two teens he had chased were connected to Vader) who demanded at least three times what Jabba had offered him, but he also convinced him to give him the ten thousand credits he needed to pay off Jabba, not that Han was dumb enough to go back to Tatooine. Luke went through all of Vader's connections and had it discreetly sent to Jabba.

Two days later, they all now shared Luke and Leia's Coruscant apartment. From the back room, Han came out into the living room all dressed in his new Imperial uniform.

"Been a while since I wore one of these," he said.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You're happy now. But you'll be dying to get out of them after a while."

Luke's com went off.

"Luke," Vader's voice came.

"Yes my master," Luke said sighing. "I'm on the way father and I'm not taking any detours to race either."

"That's good to know, but that's not what I'm talking about," Vader said with that irritated edge to his voice that meant Luke or Leia had done something he particularly disliked.

"What did we do now?" Leia asked overhearing Vader.

"Check the holonet news," was all Vader said.

"There's nothing but a bunch of trash on there. Why?" Luke asked.

"Just do it."

Leia was already at the computer and had pulled up the main page of the news. Luke turned around feeling her outrage, confusion, and then amusement.

"What?" Luke asked going over to it and then turning red in shame and embarrassment. They hadn't… He began to speak in huttese in his disbelief. It just wasn't possible.

"What's going on?" Han asked coming over to the computer with Mara behind him. "Whoa! You and Leia want to tell us something Luke?"

"For once I'm inclined to agree with Captain Solo," Vader said through the com.

Luke almost dropped the com in mortification. "Kriffing tabloid. That's not Leia! Why would I kiss my own sister?"

"Well… You didn't know she was your sister for six years. Who knows?" Han said in a teasing tone.

"It's not me," Leia said smirking. "That's Mara dressed like me."

Mara was blushing now muttering something about knowing better than to pull something like that in the middle of the senate halls.

"When did that happen? You told me they weren't together," Han exclaimed.

"When I told you that, they weren't," Leia said in a smug tone.

"This is a scandal," Vader said seriously. "One that could ruin the reputation of our family. We'll have to do damage control immediately."

"How about I just lock myself in a room and die?" Luke suggested. He had never been so embarrassed.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Alright, so I know this is the part where I tell you what's supposed to happen next. But I got a review, actually a couple of them saying that it spoils the surprise for the next chapter. So I'll let all the reviewers decide if they want the previews. Mind you, if I don't get any responses or outrageous responses I'll take the liberty to just cut them out, but I'm giving you all the chance to have a say.

Anywho, like I said before, the next chapter will be the last chapter of this arc and then it's on to the final Arc. But please! Would you mind if I took a little break? Just a little one? Writing these 8k plus parts is tiring and I need a break.

Hope you enjoyed. Review please!


	11. The Death Star

**AN**: I tell you, it doesn't seem like it's been five months since I posted this. But it really has been. So as you all know, this is the last story in this Arc and the next one will be the last one. There was some confusion last time and a lot of people thought I had abandoned the story when actually, I was just posting under Arc II.

**Edit 3/14/11: Okay. This isn't an update… Well it is because I made a significant change at the end of this that you must read if the next part which I intend to have up in June is going to make since. Go to the part right where Leia decides to go help fight against the Death Star and erase your mind of the other ending… I hated having to edit this, but I had to. Oh well.**

This was actually fun to write and before I knew it, I had another 11k+ chapter. Oh well. Better for you. Read, enjoy, and review!

xxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter Eleven**

**The Death Star**

Luke couldn't believe it. He thought that the rebels could be a bit daring and bold, but a move like this was just stupid. What in the world had possessed the rebellion to pull not only such a bold move, but a stupid one when Leia had apparently told the alliance that she had a spy in the imperial network that would send her the kriffing plans.

Luke muttered things in huttese as he boarded the Tantive IV from his flagship behind his father.

"Find the princess Luke," Vader said.

"Yes father," Luke said heading toward where he felt the Winter's presence.

_Leia…_

Luke only had to wait a moment for his sister to reply.

_Hm?_

_Please tell me what in the world possessed Winter to be the one to carry the stolen death star plans to the alliance knowing we would come after her?_

Leia laughed. _I can't help it if they think I'm too close to you and Vader to trust my spy network. They're afraid the empire will find them out through me._

_I guess they have reason to be suspicious… even if it's irrational. They have no proof you're not with them, _Luke replied.

As soon as he and his troopers walked into the room, Winter shot her blaster. Luke simply raised his hands, stopping the bolts with the force and aiming them at the walls, before summoning the blaster out her hand.

"Violence won't be necessary Princess Winter," Luke said passing one of his guards the blaster.

Two troopers cuffed her and then led her out the room behind Luke.

"Prince Vader," Winder said. "I had no idea you could be so bold. The senate will not sit for this when they learn you've attacked a diplomatic mission-."

"You forget that I know you Winter. I know your views on the empire and your sympathy for the alliance," Luke pointed out.

"Just because we dated for a few months doesn't mean you know me," Winter snapped.

"I don't have to know you at all in that case. I can sense that you're lying," Luke said.

"Following in the footsteps of your father Prince Vader?" Winter asked.

Luke cringed at the title. He hated being called that, but he had no choice. After that scandal with him and Mara (dressed as Leia), they decided that they couldn't blow Mara's cover and no one could know that Leia used a decoy. So they had been forced to reveal that Luke was the son of Vader and as a cover up reveal that he and Leia weren't really sibling, but it was only an act being that they were such close friends.

Like they had assumed, the tabloids ate the story right up and left it alone after a few weeks. The only people who weren't fooled were those who knew the truth from the beginning, that being Bail Organa and Winter, the latter of whom was distrustful of him as it was, therefore making her a little distrustful of Leia.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Vader said as they stopped in front of him. He had his arms crossed, stare fixed on the princess.

"Lord Vader. I should have known," Winter said trying not to show her fear.

"Don't play games with me, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted system. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you," Vader said cutting right to the chase.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan," Winter insisted.

"You're a part of the rebel alliance and a traitor," Vader said harshly. "Take her away.

The guards took Winter away and when she was gone, Luke looked up at Vader.

"Did you really have to be so harsh on her?" he asked.

"Yes," Vader said. "It was incredibly stupid of the alliance to pull such a stunt when Leia assured them she could get them."

"So what did she do with the plans?"

"I'm not sure. She sent then to an untraceable source," Vader said.

"Untraceable?" Luke asked and then groanded.

_Leia, check the transmission of the Amidala._

_For what?_

_I think Winter sent you the plans for the Death Star… Transmissions to the Amidala are untraceable._

There was a long pause from Leia's end before she said, _Oh stang, _and cut off their communications.

"Han," Luke said into his com.

"I was wondering where you and talk, dark, and scary went to. You left in a hurry," Han said from the other end.

"Take the _Malevolent _meet us at the Death Star," Luke told him

"Roger that kid," Han said. "But you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I'll tell you when you get to the Death Star. It's… complicated."

"Whatever you say kid," Han said. "_Malevolent _out."

"I hate that you forced that name on my ship," Luke said as they boarded the shuttle and got ready to head for the Death Star.

"Benevolent was hardly a name for a star destroyer that's part of the Imperial Fleet," Vader said to him slightly amused.

"Still, did it have to be _Malevolent_? It sounds so harsh," Luke muttered. "And it's my ship anyway."

"The emperor would have never approved your choice," Vader said to him out loud and then added telepathically, _Feel free to change the name after the emperor is dead._

"Yeah yeah…"

"Why didn't you just name it after your mother? You certainly had no qualms about doing it before," Vader pointed out.

"A star destroyer doesn't remind me of mother. A battleship doesn't represent her at all," Luke muttered.

"We have a few hours before we get to the Death Star, perhaps you should rest son," Vader said and left Luke.

Luke guessed that was a good idea except something was nagging him and he couldn't be quite sure what it was. When he was first given the _Malevolent, _he had felt fulfilled again. He was meant to be in space and he had since gotten used to having Vader around. Leia was right. There were worse people out there. But he felt so hypocritical saying he was working on behalf of the empire when to be honest, he was only acting in the interest of the emperor. In fact, the empire was only the emperor and its citizens got lost somewhere in the mix.

But something was nagging him now, a voice in the back of his mind was telling him that he had everything he needed and that it was time to take a different path. The time for putting his skills to work for the emperor were coming to an end.

He lied down on the small cot and as soon as he closed his eyes, his mind took him to a place far away from their shuttle.

_Luke looked around and saw sand for miles even though he was obviously in a city. Instantly he knew where he was. Tatooine…_

_He looked around. It was day light in the middle of the day, but something wasn't right. It felt even worse than before. Then he looked up on a pole and almost screamed at the hanging body of a person that was obviously dressed as a slave and a mob of scum stood under it before light it afire._

_Luke stumbled back in shock and then turned around so he didn't have to see the sickening sight. On the street, many of the obviously scared citizens stared in stunned disbelief, but the sad part was that they appeared indifferent to it, like it happened every day and that unless they wanted to be next, they were better off not saying anything._

_Luke heard a shout and turned to see a man arguing with someone about something. The other man who appeared to be a bounty hunter took his blaster out and shot the man in the shoulder. Luke winced. That one caused an ache in his chest and then he realized he knew that man…_

"_Uncle Owen," he said as the man fell. "Uncle Owen!"_

Luke gasped as he was pulled out the force induced vision and back into the real world. He got off the cot to get on the holonet.

"Tatooine," he muttered as he searched it.

He clicked the most recent thing he finding on his home world which happened to be a video of what was labeled as officials handling a rebel uprising. But Luke thought the violence was way over the top. Force like that was necessary. Luke had to suppress the anger that grew in him. How could the galaxy just stand by and watch this happen? He guessed it was the same way they stood by and watched the atrocities of the empire. Then again, no one really cared about Tatooine. What was there of value that could help the galaxy? Luke sighed. There might not be anything worth money, but human lives were valuable to him. He closed out the browser and sighed.

"What do I do?" Luke asked putting his head in his hands. He heard a sigh behind him.

"Only you can decide that Luke," she said.

Luke turned around in his chair with his hand on his light saber. He paused though when he saw that it was a woman, a torgruta to be exact, and she was glowing blue. But she felt familiar.

"You've been hanging around your father too much," she said putting her hands on her hips. "You can't kill a person that's already dead."

"Wait a minute," Luke said. "I know your voice. You're that spirit. Leia said your name's Ahsoka."

Ahsoka smiled. "So you haven't forgotten me."

"Of course not. You helped us out more times than I can count before. Mom sent you," Luke said with a smile and then frowned. "But you're not a floating ball of light anymore."

"I never was. But you weren't developed enough in the force to see me properly or hear me for that matter," Ahsoka added with a smirk.

"Makes sense," Luke said relaxing as he leaned back in his chair. "Where did you disappear to?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "You didn't need me anymore. My job was done."

"Then why are you here now," Luke asked.

Ahsoka reached out to touch his face. "Because you're in a dangerous place right now Luke and your mother's worried about you. You and Leia are going to have to make a choice soon. A choice just like the one you made on Tatooine."

"It's going to be that big?" Luke asked.

"Well it depends on what you mean by big?" Ahsoka said coyly.

"I mean when me and Leia left Tatooine, look at everything that happened. Is it going to something like that?" Luke asked.

"It might," Ahsoka said and then sighed as she walked away from Luke. "Just know that whatever way you decide to go, your mother loves you and Leia. She knows you'll do the right thing."

With that Ahsoka disappeared leaving an even more conflicted Luke in her wake.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Leia had a hard time convincing her security that she, Threepio, and Mara were only going back to Naboo to spend some time with her family. But she managed in the end. The truth was that she and Mara were headed to Yavin IV where the current base for the rebel alliance was situated.

The plans for the Death Star had indeed been transmitted to her ship and it was imperative she got off Coruscant before someone managed to track the transmission to her ship.

"On the run again," she muttered to Mara.

"No one knows you have the plans," Mara pointed out.

"Not for long. It'll only be a matter of time before they're able to track it. It's only bought us enough time to get away Mara," Leia said as they came up on Yavin IV.

"You're not going to let them try to destroy the Death Star are you?" Mara asked acting unconcerned. "Your brother and Vader are still on it."

"They'll get away," Leia assured. "Besides, it's not quite time for them to do that yet. We have to go save Winter first."

"Then why are we headed for Yavin?"

"We'll need some help," Leia said as she pulled the _Amidala _into the hanger.

She got up and brushed off her dress before heading out her ship. The leaders of the Alliance were there to meet her.

"Senator Naberrie," Mon said to her. "This is certainly unexpected."

Mon had been forced to go into hiding with the rebellion a year ago after her association with the alliance was revealed. Therefore it had been a while since Leia had seen her.

"Hello Mon," Leia said hugging the woman and nodding her head to the other leaders of the alliance. Then her eyes landed on the two people slowly approaching her ship.

She scowled as they came into her line of vision.

"It's been a long time Master Kenobi, Master Yoda," she said curtly.

"Warms my heart to see that not corrupted by the empire you have been youngling," Yoda said to her.

"Leia," Obi-Wan said nodding his head to her.

"This is an emergency," Leia said to Mon ignoring the two Jedi. "Winter was captured by Darth Vader when she was trying to get the plans for the Death Star back to Bail on Alderaan. She sent me the plans because transmissions to my ship are almost impossible to track. However knowing Vader and Luke, it'll only be a matter of time and they won't be very happy with me."

"I can only imagine," Mon said. "You and Luke have always been so close. You were in a relationship, correct?"

"That's done with," Leia said smoothly. That had been a fiasco. The galaxy was now convinced she and Luke weren't related. "Have you met my handmaiden, Mara?"

"Yes," Mon said. "I believe we did."

Leia nodded in satisfaction and then said, "Now I need volunteers to help me save Winter. We can't leave her trapped on the Death Star. The empire will kill her."

"Leia," Mon said and Leia had a feeling she knew exactly what the woman was about to say.

"Don't tell me you don't have the men to spare. We can't just leave Winter to die, especially when all of this could have been avoided in the first place if you just let me sneak the plans from Luke and Vader," Leia said crossly.

"It's not that simple Leia. We wanted you to get in the least amount of trouble being that you're so close to them-." Mon said.

"Or is it that you don't trust here because she's so close to them?" Mara asked bluntly.

"Mara," Leia said patiently although she was thinking the same thing.

"The rebellion can't be too cautious Leia. We have to go that extra mile," Mon said to her sympathetically.

"Well that doesn't bother me. Quite honestly, I don't blame you for not trusting you. But we can't leave Winter," Leia said firmly.

"Leia we can't risk the lives of dozens of men for one person," Dodonna said to her.

"So that means you can risk dozens of men for the liberation of Tatooine?" Mara asked smartly.

"Mara," Leia said. But the girl was only voicing what Leia was trying not to. She had been working for the last year and a half to convince the empire and the alliance to help in the effort for the liberation of Tatooine and all the planets in Hutt Space. The responses were always the same. They had a bigger enemy to focus on.

"Leia. I know you and Winter were close and I'm sorry. But we can't risk it," Mon said.

Leia stared in anger. If she were looking at the bigger picture, she would understand that Mon was right. But she couldn't just abandon Winter that way when she and Luke had taken bigger risks before and come through.

"I understand your position Mon. We can't risk the people of the rebellion for this," Leia said nodding her head. "But it doesn't mean I have to sit here and do nothing. Anyone who wants to come with me is welcome."

"Leia where are you going?" Mon asked patiently.

"I'm going to Alderaan to see if Bail Organa has some men he's willing to spare to save his daughter.

With that Leia turned on her heel and back up the ramp of the _Amidala_ with Mara following close behind her.

"Miss Leia. Maybe I should stay here…"

"Let's go copper mouth," Mara snapped.

Yoda shook his head from where he was.

"Reckless like her father she is," he said.

Obi-wan sighed. "It runs in the Skywalker family. I'll go with her. I won't be able to keep her out of trouble, but I can watch her back."

Obi-wan ran up the ramp of the ship before Leia could fully close it and sat in the room right off the cockpit.

"I really do hope you haven't come to stop me from doing this," Leia said after they had taken off. "I'm going whether you have anything to say about it or not."

Obi-wan sighed.

"What are you up to Leia?" he asked.

Leia sat ever clam about the situation as she narrowed her eyes at Obi-wan.

"What are you talking about?"

"If I recall, you weren't too keen on the rebellion. In fact, you wanted to call your father right away. Luke seemed more the one to join the rebellion than you were," he said.

"Things change," Leia said simply.

"Leia," Obi-wan said to her.

Leia sighed. She figured Obi-wan hadn't said anything about it yet and even though she didn't agree with some of the ways of the jedi and the decisions they made for the greater good, they were trustworthy.

"We're going to take over the empire," Leia admitted. "Father wants me to infiltrate the rebellion to help us take out some of the imperial policies and knock out any opposition. Luke plays the poster boy for the emperor so that Palpatine is none the wiser to our plan. Palpatine thinks me and Luke are just close friends. And that fiasco a year ago was just Mara and Luke not thinking about what they were doing."

"I figured it was something like that," Obi-wan said looking over at Mara. "And who are you. I sense that the force is with you."

"I used to be Palpatine's hand," Mara said to him.

"His hand?" Obi-wan asked mildly surprised.

"Long story short, I was sent to spy on them and kill them, they exposed me, I sided with them," Mara said bluntly.

Obi-wan shook his head and turned back to Leia. "But I see that you are feeling conflicted about your role in this."

Leia sighed. "I don't like this having to be calculating and pretending. It's not me. It never was. I felt better about myself when me and Luke were on the run. Sure what we were doing was illegal in the empire, but it felt right in the force. Sure I'm a natural diplomat, but I felt freer doing it without all the restrictions and playing this political game…"

"You don't feel right about being the empire," Obi-wan asked.

"It's not the empire really. It's everyone who has their own interest and organization as the main concern that bothers me. It's not about the empire or the rebellion. It's about the liberty of the people and even though the rebellion claims that, sometimes I feel they're no better than the empire claiming it," Leia said her thoughts drifting to what had been she and Luke's concern over the last few months. Tatooine…

It didn't necessarily hold any fond memories, but the most important even in her life happened there. She met Luke.

"You feel paralyzed?" Obi-wan asked.

"I didn't at first… I felt like going into this plan with Vader was the right thing to do but now the force is whispering something else to me, to all of us. Even Han and Chewie are a little restless."

"It wants us to do something," Mara added. "And we don't know what it is. But none of us can even turn on the holonet or holovision without being angry that they're ignoring what's going on in the outer rim. Who wants to be a part of two factions that ignore that?"

"I see Luke's certainly influenced you," Leia said.

Mara shrugged. "He can't get his mind off Tatooine lately."

"Do you know what ii is yet?" Obi-wan asked.

Leia shook her head. "The only thing I know is that the force hasn't felt like this since we left Tatooine. I didn't know what the force was then, but I was getting that same feeling."

"It seems that you're going to have to make a choice soon Leia," Obi-wan said. "You and Luke. And it will either bring you closer together or break you apart."

"Well you can cross out the last option," Mara said rolling her eyes. "The two of them would follow each other to hell and they'd persuade me into following."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Obi-wan said honestly and Leia smirked.

"Well you should be. Because you're darn right about that," she said determined.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Father, you're not really going to torture Winter are you?" Luke asked when he saw the probe droid.

Vader noticed he was eying it cautiously and crossed his arms. "I have no choice Luke. If I don't, Tarkin and his men will and it will be much worse than anything I would do to her."

"But dad," Luke said looking at the droid out the corner of his eye again.

"Why do you keep looking at the droid like that?" Vader asked finally.

"Let's just say I've been on the receiving end of one," Luke said carefully trying not to ignite his father's temper by sounding indifferent about the ordeal.

It didn't work.

"When?" he asked and Luke sighed patiently at his father's anger.

"It's no big deal. Not like I couldn't have stopped it but I was stalling for time for Leia," Luke said shrugging.

"You and your sister are much too casual about the things you have put your lives in danger for," Vader scolded, much like himself, he added to himself though he loathed to ever admit that to his children.

"But still dad. You can't torture her," Luke said.

"What other choice do I have Luke? I couldn't live with a clean conscience knowing what Tarkin and his men would do to her," Vader admitted.

"You have a conscience?" Luke grumbled.

"You try my patience son," Vader said warning Luke that he was about to abandoned tact.

"Well then let me talk to her first. Maybe I can get her to talk," Luke said.

"She won't willingly betray the rebellion," Vader said to his son.

Luke sighed… "I know. But I have to try," he said.

Vader stared at him and then nodded his head towards the detention area. "You better hurry. I must not delay this much longer."

Luke nodded and headed with purpose to the detention cell. The troopers guarding the detention bay nodded to him as he walked by, but Luke ignored them. He had to get Winter to talk.

He opened her cell door and the Alderaanian princess, who had been staring at the wall, turned to look at him. She scowled.

"Come to gloat?" she asked haughtily.

Luke rolled his eyes. "You're about as bad as Leia can be with this haughty princess act. I guess it's a trait of all princesses…"

"What do you want?" Winter asked as she cautiously eyed Luke closing the cell door with the force.

"You've got to tell me where the rebel base is," he said to her.

"You're crazy," Winter said. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Winter please," Luke pleaded. "If you don't, my father will have no choice but to torture you to try and get it out of you and he doesn't want to."

"Then why is he planning to do it?" Winter snapped.

"Because whatever he's going to do to you will be merciful compared to what Tarkin and his men would do to you," Luke explained. "I can't tell you everything, but you have to tell me something. Even if it's some crazy hint. A clue?"

Winter turned back to stare at the wall.

"Why don't you just ask your sister? I'm sure she'll tell you," Winter said crossing her arms.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that I know you know she's part of the alliance and I know it's part of something you're planning with Vader," Winter admitted.

Luke didn't know whether to play dumb or admit it. This was Leia's area of expertise. Instead, he decided to be elusive.

"You don't know everything Winter and I'm not going to bother trying to explain it to you. But just know Vader doesn't want to do this," Luke muttered.

Winter scoffed in obvious disbelief and Luke left the detention area. His father was waiting outside.

"She won't talk," Luke said simply as he left the detention area just as he heard the door to Winter's cell close, he sudden spike of fear mixed with determination, and then pain. He blocked out her pain and started toward the hanger where Han, Chewie, and Artoo were just arriving.

Artoo zipped to him talking furiously.

"I know you wanted to go too buddy. Sorry," Luke said sighing.

Artoo detected Luke's melancholy mood and voiced his concern.

"Don't worry buddy. I'm okay," he said as Han clapped him on the back.

"I don't know kid," he said with uncertainty in his tone. "You sound kinda bothered there."

"I'm fine Han," Luke insisted.

"Now listen kid. I know you well enough to know when something's bothering you and when it's this bad it has something to do with the force or your sister. So spill," Han demanded.

"I just… I feel like it's time for me to move on into another phase in my life. Me and Leia have been with the empire for three years and at first it felt right, but now…" Luke said.

"Does this have anything to do with your home world kid?" Han asked knowingly.

"No," Luke said a little agitated that Han didn't quite understand. "It's more than that. It's… Ugh. I need to talk to Leia."

With that, he turned on his heal and headed toward the conference room where Tarkin was no doubt waiting on Vader's report on the information from Winter.

Chewie looked at Han and growled something.

"Yeah you're right. The last time I saw him this miserable and conflicted was that time Leia got sick on that planet," Han said staring after Luke.

Chewie made a response.

"Yeah. You're right. However he sorts it out, we're going to stick with him," Han decided following Luke into the conference room.

"Commander Solo," Tarkin greeted. "It's been too long."

"Governor," Han said courteously. Behind him Chewie growled a smug response in Tarkin's direction who frowned at the wookiee.

"What did he say?" Tarkin asked not noticing Luke trying to stifle a laugh from next to him.

"He said it's good to see you again sir," Han managed trying to keep from laughing at the wookiee's real response of "It hasn't been nearly long enough…"

They all sat around the table and patiently waited for Vader to return. It was an hour or so later when the sith returned. Through the force, Luke felt his father's apparent frustration at Winter's stubborn resolve not to reveal the location of the rebel base.

"She has a very strong will," Vader admitted. "She won't say anything."

Luke sighed. "She'll never willingly betray the alliance."

"Then perhaps it's time we use this space station," an officer said eagerly. "We have all this power. It's time we use it."

Vader huffed and Luke laughed. His father had always thought the Death Star was a technological error. It was one of the things Luke and Leia had never argued with him about. They were in complete agreement over the opinions of the death star.

"The power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force," Vader commented and the officer rolled his eyes.

"You always preach about that religion you, the emperor, and your son use. It hasn't gotten the information out the princess yet has it?" he asked.

"Father," Luke said knowing what was coming next.

"I find you lack of faith disturbing," Vader said raising her hand to choke the officer.

He gagged and Luke looked at his father. "Father stop."

"Vader," Tarkin said. "Vader stop."

"Father," Luke said louder and Vader reluctantly let the man go.

Han whistled and rubbed his neck, happy he had never been on the receiving end of that… He had very nearly been on the receiving end of it, but not quite.

"Perhaps he's right though Vader," Tarkin said and turned to an officer behind him. "Set course for Aldeeran."

Luke looked up from where he was staring at the table in alarm as he felt the malicious intent of Tarkin.

"You're kidding?" he asked in disbelief. "You can't blow up Alderaan. It's a peaceful planet. They have no weapons. You can't."

"I can," Tarkin said to him.

"Not if we don't agree," Luke shot referring to the fact that he and Vader had a higher rank than Tarkin.

"The emperor gave me complete jurisdiction over the Death Star Prince Vader, which mean so long as your father and you are aboard it, you are subjected to my command," Tarkin said smugly.

"You can at least give then a warning to let them evacuate the planet," Luke said tightly.

"But what better way to motivate the princess than with the death of her people?" Tarkin asked.

Luke had to resist the urge to call on the darkness gathering in him to possibly throttle Tarkin or use force lightening on him perhaps… Instead, he turned on his heel and left the conference room.

"Excuse him," Han said standing up to follow him. "He's been a little moody lately. Only a matter of time before he blows. But that shouldn't be too shocking. Apple doesn't roll far from the tree."

Han and Chewie followed after Artoo and Luke. To his shocked though, Luke was going into the bowels of the Death Star.

"Where are you going kid?"

"I'm not going to let Tarkin destroy Alderaan," Luke said.

"Wait a minute. Do you know how much trouble you'll get in?"

Luke shrugged. "I won't. Especially if you go into my quarters and vouch for me."

"Luke," Han said to no avail as the boy took the lift blocking Han from following him.

Han groaned. "I swear. If this is what it's like to trying keeping children out of trouble, I'll never have kids."

A few hours later, Luke still hadn't returned and Han and Chewie nervously escorted Winter from her cell to the bridge of the Death Star. Luke came out of an adjacent hall to join him and Han let out a sigh of relief.

"Where have you been?" he whispered harshly.

"I had to clean up a little mess," Luke said sith a mischievous smirk. Han didn't like it one bit.

"What's that supposed to mean kid?"

"I couldn't come to this demonstration all dirty now could I?" Luke answered cryptically.

Luke knew Han wasn't falling for it and knew when Luke said 'mess', he meant wiping minds, hiding stunned technical officers and troopers, and making sure whatever he had done couldn't be traced back to him.

"Governor Tarkin," Winter said to him as soon as they were on the bridge. "I should have known you were holding Vader's leash. I smelt your foul stench as soon as I walked on board."

"Charming to the last," Tarkin said to Winter. "You don't know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life."

"I'm surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself," Winter shot.

Luke resisted the urge to sigh. Baiting Tarkin would do Winter no good. If anything, it would make him even more unreasonable.

"Princess Winter, before your execution I'd like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational," Tarkin said walking away from Winter. "No star system will dare oppose the emperor now."

_He puts so much faith in this thing, _Luke sent to Vader.

_It's sickening, _Vader agreed.

"The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers," Winter said certainly.

Tarkin gave Winter a smug smile and said, "Not after we demonstrate the power of this station."

Winter's fear was almost blinding in the force, but to her credit, she didn't show it. Luke had always like that about her. She and Leia were similar in that respect.

"In a way you have determined the choice of the planet that will be destroyed first. Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the rebel base, I have chosen to test this station's destructive power on your home planet," Tarkin said and Winter finally looked out the viewport to see Alderaan.

"No! Alderaan is a peaceful planet. We have no weapons. You can't," Winter said raising her cuffed hands in a gesture or pleading.

"You would prefer another target? A military target perhaps? Then name the system," Tarkin demanded.

Luke felt Winter's fear begin to morph into anger at the man who was threatening her planet and to be honest, Luke didn't blame her. But she wasn't like him and Leia. One look and both of them would have sprung into action to wreck havoc on the space station and destroy it before they let it destroy a planet.

"I grow tired of asking this. So it'll be the last time," Tarkin said when Winter wouldn't answer. "Where is the rebel base?"

"Datooine," Winter said averting her eyes in defeat. "They're on Datooine."

Luke didn't have to use the force to know she was lying. Leia had never directly told him where the rebel base was, but the last time he checked, the rebels had evacuated a base on Datooine.

"See there, Vader? She can be reasoned with," Tarkin said in a tone that would have made a person think he was proud of Winter for being reasonable. He turned to a tech. "You may fire when ready."

"What?" Winter asked looking up.

"Datooine is too remote a planet for an effective demonstration, but don't worry. We'll deal with your rebel friends," Tarkin assured.

The laser powered up getting ready to fire and just when everyone thought they were about to see Alderaan blown to bits, the powering sound suddenly whined down to nothing.

Tarkin looked at the safe and sound planet in surprise before turning to the techs.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We don't know sir. But we've contacted the laser technicians. We should have an answer soon," the officer stated.

A few minutes later the officer turned to Tarkin and said, "There's been extensive damage to the laser cannons and weapons control. It's too severe for it to be a simple malfunction. It was sabotaged."

"Who?" Tarkin asked staring at the technician in wonder.

"Whoever it was erased their tracks. All we know is that it had to be someone with access to the plans of the Death Star and extensive engineering talent," the officer replied. "My guess is one of the operating techs or the engineers."

Vader, Han, and Chewie turned to look at Luke who was feigning concern over the 'malfunctioning' weapon. In fact, everyone in the room seemed to have had the feeling that the Imperial prince had something to do with the sabotage of the super weapon.

Tarkin walked right up to Luke and looked him directly in the face.

"You did this," Tarkin declared.

Luke looked at him feigning disbelief that Tarkin would think such a thing, but even he couldn't stop the smirk that crawled on his lips.

"Me? I have no clue what you're talking about," he said with humor in his tone. "Why would I sabotage the Death Star?"

"Everyone knows you were against the destruction of Alderaan," Tarkin shot.

"Sure, but what do you think I am? Some rebel child with no home training or respect for authority?" Luke asked.

_That's exactly what you are, _Vader sent to Luke.

"Besides," Luke added. "Even if I did sabotage the Death Star, and with my engineering and technical expertise I could have, you have no proof."

Amusement came off of Han, Chewie and Vader in waves. Luke had practically admitted he was behind the sabotage of the space station. But so long as Tarkin had no proof, he couldn't do a thing.

Tarkin groaned and said to the tech, "How long before you can fix the damage?"

"A few hours at the most…"

"Take Princess Winter back to her cell," Tarkin declared in obvious frustration.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leia had no idea how she let Obi-wan convince her to do some force training. She had initially argued that she was progressing perfectly fine in her force training on her own and with help from Luke when he got the chance. But then he said the he could begin teaching her how to wield a light saber and Leia had to admit he got her as soon as he said the words. It wasn't even about the force training to her. It was about learning to use a weapon she had yet to master and so there she was with the helmet on while Obi-wan was teaching her to deflect shots with the force.

Leia listened to the hum of Obi-wan's light saber in her hands as she waited for the training droid to shoot again. She didn't really like the feel of Obi-wan's light saber in her hands. It was a passive weapon… only taking action when it was desperately needed. But Leia disagreed with that. She certainly believed in diplomacy, but she also believed that sometimes a good threat was needed for certain people in conjunction with diplomacy. But that was only for certain people. She could name some places where it was needed and some places where it would only do more harm than good.

"Don't think Leia," Obi-wan said. "Let the force flow through you. Let it guide you. Listen to it."

"I know what to do," she said rolling her eyes.

"You're just like your father," her teacher said. "Always thinking you're ahead of the lesson you're being taught."

"That's because most of the time I am," Leia said and as if to demonstrate, she deflected two bolts from the droid before lifting up her helmet and giving Obi-wan a pointed look. "See?"

Obi-wan started to contradict her when she effortlessly blocked one more that came from the droid.

"See?" Leia asked. "For me, it's only a matter of really learning how to use a light saber. I don't need "Using the Force: 101"."

"I see Skywalker arrogance is not a gene that weakens over the generations," he said.

Leia started to reply angrily that she was not arrogant until she heard the alarm that said they had dropped out of hyperspace.

She went to the cockpit where Mara was flying toward Alderaan, floating beautiful as ever in the blackness of space. But she sensed that Mara was confused about something and sat next to her.

"What?" Leia asked and Mara pointed out the visor.

"Since when does Alderaan have a moon that close?" she asked

Leia looked out the visor and frowned at what she was talking about. Sure enough, there in front of Alderaan was a moon that wasn't supposed to be there. But there was something off about it.

"That's no moon," Obi-wan said.

Leia gasped. "You mean that's the Death Star?" she asked. "But what's it doing over Alderaan?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling we won't be getting onto Alderaan with that thing blockading it," Mara said.

"Good," Leia said. "That's means we'll be able to save Winter."

Leia steered right towards to the space station and Mara, knowing better than to argue with her, sat back in her seat.

"They're going to arrest us on the spot you know?" Mara asked simply.

"Only if they know we're on the ship," Leia said as they were caught in the tractor beam of the Death Star. "Come on. We'll hide in the smuggling compartments."

"But youre claustrophobic," Mara pointed out and Leia shakily nodded her head having already thought about this.

"I'll live for a few minutes."

Meanwhile Luke didn't know whether to be thrilled to see the familiar ship on its way to the Death Star's hanger or angry. He couldn't believe that Leia would pull a stunt like this. For the second time that day, Han, Chewie, and Vader looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Well kid… Not many people own a black Royal J Style Naboo Skiff. In fact, I only know two people that do," Han pointed out.

"Only you and Leia would pull such an incredibly stupid move like this. But it's odd, I do not sense her on the ship," Vader commented as they head to the hanger where the ship had now landed and was being inspected by storm troopers.

"You don't sense her, but I can sense her even when she's hiding her presence," Luke said sighing as he opened his and his sister's link.

_Have you lost your mind?_

_Someone had to save Winter, _Leia replied simply.

Luke paused. _You know me and Vader wouldn't have let anything happen to her. What about the plans for the Death Star? Did you get them to the alliance?_

_I did, but when they wouldn't send a team after Winter I left just as soon as I came to come save her, _Leia replied.

_So you still have them with you?_ Luke asked in disbelief.

Leia rolled her eyes. _Don't worry. They're not in the ship memory anymore. It's on a datpad with me._

_Dad's going to strangle you, _Luke replied simply. _I hope you have a plan on how you're going to get off this thing._

_Simple enough. Blast my way into the detention bay, get Winter and take her to the ship while you deactivate the tractor beam for me._

_I can't. Tarkin's got his eye on me like a hawk after I sabotaged the laser on the Death Star, _Luke said dryly.

_And they haven't thrown you in a cell and deemed you a traitor yet? _Leia asked.

_They have no proof. Either way. I can't help you. So you're going to have to come up with another way to get past that tractor beam, _Luke advised.

_Coming up with ridiculous plans that actually work is your expertise, _Leia pointed out.

_I don't plan. I just go for it and it usually works out, _Luke corrected.

_My point exactly…_

"Well," Vader asked the troopers.

"There's no one on board sir."

"And the plans?" Vader asked.

"We don't know sir, but it appears someone erased all recent data transmissions," he reported.

"I want that ship fully searched and scanned," Vader replied.

"No way," Luke said looking at Vader like he was crazy. "I won't have your officers tearing my ship apart to search it."

"Luke, do not try me," Vader said to him. "The ship will be fine and will be released back into your care once they finish."

Luke crossed his arms. "If there's even one scratch on her I swear everyone who was on this job will regret it."

Everyone gulped. Sure Luke wasn't going to choke anyone or kill them, but he was excellent at finding discreet ways to get revenge on those who crossed him wrong without ever having a finger pointed back at him.

"I sense something. A presence I have not felt since…" Vader trailed off and the two young men and Chewie looked after him.

"Should we follow him?" Han asked.

"We should actually just stay out of the way until Leia and Mara come up with a plan to get to winter," Luke said.

"Somehow I have a feeling it won't be that simple," Han muttered.

Artoo muttered a dry reply and Chewie growled his agreements.

"My sentiments exactly…" Han muttered. "What was I thinking when I agreed to this job?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Whose idea was it to jump down the garbage chute again?" Mara asked.

"Just taking a page out of my brother's rescue manual," Leia muttered though she too was regretting it. This was the second time she was in a closed space. "But someone had to save our skins back there."

Winter jumped. "Did you just feel that?"

"Feel what?" Mara snapped disliking the princess more by the minute.

This rescue had been a disaster from the get go. First they came up with the ridiculous idea to put on the storm trooper armors and Mara was still trying to figure how they pulled that one off to begin with being that she and Leia were only a few inches taller than five feet. Next, Threepio had blown their cover in the detention bay by trying to make conversation with the troopers over the com and then Leia came up with the brilliant plan to jump down the garbage chute. It didn't help that she hated Winter's obvious mistrusting attitude.

"There's something down there," Leia said tapping into the force to find the creature as she pointed her blaster into the water and followed the motions of the beast before shooting it.

"Some aim you got there Leia," Winter commented.

"And we're going to need your photographic memory when we get out of here," Leia said. "Do you remember the way to the hanger?"

"You mean you don't?" Winter asked with a smile.

"I-." the walls began to close in on them at that moment and Leia cursed.

"This is kriffing perfect," Mara said lifting up her legs and pushing against the opposite wall to try to keep them apart.

Winter and Leia did the same.

_Luke, _Leia sent to her brother. _We could use a little help here._

It was a moment before her brother responded.

_Where are you?_

_In the garbage chute and the walls are closing in on us,_ Leia snapped.

_Hold on a minute, I've got Artoo on it, _Luke said calmly.

"Tell farm boy we don't have a minute," Mara snapped.

"You could hear us?" Leia asked raising her eyebrows.

"Luke doesn't completely block me out like he does everyone else anymore. Sometimes I can hear parts of your conversations. The ones about your crush on Han are particularly interesting," Mara said and Winter would have found the whole situation amusing if it weren't so dire.

"Artoo, hurry up," Leia yelled to no one in particular as the walls started to close more and just when she thought they were dead, the walls stopped and opened up again.

The previously locked latch next to them opened and they came face to face with a familiar former smuggler grinning at them.

"You all certainly know how to pick your hiding places," he said helping the girls out the chute one by one.

"Oh that was so frightening," Threepio said frantically. "Next time, leave me in the smuggling compartments Miss Leia."

"You all certainly have wonderful timing," Winter muttered.

"You're welcome your worshipfulness. Next time, we'll just wait until the garbage cute compresses you all nice and neat into flat little rectangles," Han shot and then said to Leia. "Luke told me to tell you he would have come himself, but ever since he sabotaged the Death Star, Tarkin's on him like jawas on abandoned junk."

"Luke did that?" Winter asked softly.

"Just for you," Han said cheekily leading them down the hall. "Next time you can show your gratitude by saying thank you."

"I… I didn't know. I thought he was working for the empire," Winter said looking down, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"Listen Snow White," Mara said to her. "You had your chance with him and you blew it. So don't get any ideas."

"What's your problem?" Winter asked.

"You," Mara muttered.

"What did I do?"

"Well for one if you had let Leia get the Death Star plans from Luke, we wouldn't be here right now," Mara muttered.

"And?" Winter asked.

"Because you're Luke's ex girlfriend. She's never liked you Winter," Leia replied as she sensed a presence before they rounded the corner. She started to raise her blaster to shoot the person before Han grabbed it.

"Watch it princess. You're going to kill-."

A loud growl came and Chewie walked around the corner gathering Leia in hug.

"Hello Chewie. It's good to see you too," Leia said accustomed to his giant hugs.

"We need to get a move on people," Han said to them starting to turn the corner and then turning back. "But it aint that way. Hallway number two ladies…"

"We won't avoid them for long. We're headed right for them," Leia said taking out her blaster. Sure enough, three or four troopers rounded the next corner.

A quick shot from all the people holding blasters did the trick and they continued running until they were about look off a railing into the hanger.

"There's the Amidala," Leia said. "It looks okay. Luke would kill me if something happened to it."

"Stang right I would," Luke said from behind them with Artoo standing next to him.

"Luke," Leia said launching herself at her brother. It had been almost a year since she had seen him. "How did you get here?

"Just redirected the storm troopers from this level and told them you all were above us," Luke said simply.

"I thought you couldn't get involved," Mara said with a smirk.

"And let you two have all the fun? No way," Luke said, light saber in hand.

"I'd hardly define this as fun Master Luke," Threepio said. "Now can we please-. Oh my. Sir do you really think now is the time for such affections?"

Artoo dryly agreed with Threepio and rammed into the back of Luke's legs. Luke pulled from Mara and sighed.

"Right. Not the time," he said embarrassed.

"Teenagers these days," Han said rolling his eyes. "You three have got to get to the _Amidala_."

"We won't get anywhere if that old Jedi didn't get the tractor beam deactivated," Mara muttered crossing her arms.

Luke froze. "Jedi?"

"Obi-wan's with us," Leia said and then understood why Luke was suddenly worried. But to be honest, she couldn't say she was too worried about Obi-wan. She hadn't asked him to come with her. In fact, she was more worried about her father than anything.

Sensing her train of thought Luke gave Leia a small glare and the girl shrugged. Years in the senate hadn't changed her.

"I'll go make sure. Han, Chewie, make sure they get to the ship," Luke yelled running down the hall.

Artoo started to yell after Luke, telling him to wait up before he gave the droid equivalent of a groan and turned around to go with Leia, all the while muttering about Skywalkers and their impulsive, yet adventurous, natures. Still, he'd rather serve a Skywalker over anyone else any day.

Luke carefully followed his senses to where he sensed his father and another distantly familiar presence. He went down the curved hall and heard the distinct clashing of light sabers and then he came upon his father and Obi-wan dueling.

"If you kill me now Vader, I shall become more powerful in death," Obi-wan said calmly.

"Old fool. This is the end for you jedi," Vader said.

"Obi-wan," Luke called out. "Father no!"

Obi-wan lowered his sword and looked back at Leia who was boarding the ramp with Winter and Mara. Artoo was also with her having decided to spend some time with his other master. Chewie and Han were nowhere to be seen. No doubt they were playing the part of the commander who was just figuring out where the prisoner and intruders had gone.

Leia turned around to see Vader with his sword raised to kill Obi-wan and watched without batting an eye, knowing that the old man was trying to help them get away. But she didn't understand why… This was all part of their plan. He didn't need to sacrifice himself.

Just as Vader brought his sword down though, something happened that shocked everyone who witnessed it. Luke jumped in and blocked the strike, crossing swords with his father.

Leia stood on the ramp in shock and then flinched at the anger that was radiating off her father.

"Obi-wan go," Luke said pushing his father's red sword back.

"Luke," Obi-wan said.

"Just go okay," Luke said and Obi-wan wasted no time diving through the doors before the closed, the last thing he or Leia saw being Luke and Vader lower their sword to stare at each other.

Leia shook herself out of her stupor and started back down the ramp, fully intending to referee the huge explosion that was going to result from this between Luke and Vader.

"Leia get back here," Mara said grabbing her arm.

"But Luke, Vader," she said struggling against her.

"If there's one thing I know about Vader it's that he loves you and Luke even though he's never going to admit it stubborn as he is," Mara said and yanked Leia up the ramp. "As angry as he is, he's not going to hurt Luke. We have to go."

Leia hesitated for a moment before going up the ramp. Obi-wan jumped on board before it closed and with that, they took off into space.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Luke was dead and he knew it. Luke had never felt this much anger from Vader directed at him. Vader hated the jedi and Luke had deliberately gotten in between him killing one. Luke was dead ten times over…

Vader was so furious with his son that he couldn't find the words to articulate his anger at him and his instinct was telling him to grab Luke by the neck and choke him. He had been betrayed again. His own son had turned against him to side with the jedi, just like his mother…

"I don't know what you're so mad," Luke said in a daring move to speak first.

"You can't be _that _much of a simpleton," Vader said in a calm icy tone.

"Well I'm telling the truth," Luke said trying not to step back. He had never been more intimidated by his father than he had at that moment.

"So you're saying that you're siding with the jedi then?" Vader yelled.

"This isn't about the jedi," Luke said rolling his eyes but who was he kidding, this was about the jedi and he knew it.

"Then do tell son. What is this about? What would make you side against your own father to defend those traitors?" Vader said.

"If you would just see past your anger for once, you'd see that you're the traitor," Luke muttered.

Vader raised the hilt of his deactivated light saber at Luke.

"What did you just say?"

"I said you're the traitor," Luke said without missing a beat. "The jedi didn't turn against anyone. You turned against them. You turned against the galaxy by joining some power hungry maniac who doesn't care about the galaxy in the name of trying to bring peace to the galaxy but the truth is that you wanted power even if it was for good, you still wanted it."

"And I succeeded in doing so. The only reason the galaxy is at war now is because-."

"You call this peace?" Luke challenged. "There isn't rebellion when there's peace dad. And to be quite honest, I don't blame them, but the rebellion is just as misguided as the empire."

"What are you saying son?"

"I'm saying I'm tired of playing this charade. It's not me. Because in the end, this is all a power struggle. And I don't want power, not like this. Not where we crush all our adversaries and then neglect the real issues. We'll always be at war if that's what running a government is about," Luke pointed. "I felt better when I was a fugitive on the _Amidala _to tell the truth. At least then I was making a difference. Now I'm just helping to make a big mess out of everything…"

"You're speaking treason," Vader said crossing his arms.

"And I'm beyond caring at this moment dad. While we're on the topic, I'm telling you that you may as well kill me now because I am a Jedi. I didn't know it before and I thought because I didn't want to follow some outdates code that I would never be one. But I am. I hate the dark side and if you were going to kill Obi-wan, you may as well kill me too."

Luke dropped his light saber at Vader's feet and stood there waiting for him to strike, but as angry as Vader was and as much as he wanted to strike, he simply turned on his heal and walked away from his son.

"We will finish this conversation later my son. The emperor wishes to speak with us," he said and turned to go answer the call.

Luke called his light saber to him and followed. Their instructions were clear. Destroy the rebellion. Luke knew Vader had no intent of doing so. He would rather the rebellion destroy the Death Star being that he hated it to begin with. But Luke didn't know whether Vader hated the fact the Death Star was really a flawed design of a super space station and a waste of money or if he really thought it was a mistake to begin with.

Either way, the emperor's conversation with him weighed on him. The emperor had sensed that Luke was in conflict about something and Luke reluctantly admitted that he would like to start a relief effort in the outer rim. It hadn't quite come out like he had wanted because he didn't have Leia's diplomatic skill, but Palpatine had shot it down in any case, saying that there would be time for that, that they couldn't go seeking to aid other planets when the empire as a whole was in jeopardy. It angered Luke though, and that had displeased the emperor, that Luke would dare anger with him as if to disagree with him. Luke had a feeling if force lightning could come through a hologram projector, the emperor would have tried to punish him right then and there.

If that wasn't enough, Luke's impending conversation with his father unnerved him. But none of that compared to the ache in his heart, the whispering from the force telling him that it was time for him to make a choice. And it was time for Leia to make one too, wherever she was on the base of Yavin watching the impending battle, the odds against the rebellion.

He was vaguely aware of his father calling for all pilots to get in their ties to battle the rebel star fighters. Even if Vader wanted the Death Star destroyed, he couldn't let them do it while they were on it. Not like they really had a shot though. Luke had studied the plans. The odds someone would succeed in making the needed shot was nearly impossible. It was one in a million. Those were Skywalker odds.

"Leia," he muttered in his distress. Even though they were older, he hated feeling like they were distanced from each other.

Leia heard his call as she watched the battle with the other alliance leaders and General Dodonna instructing the pilots. But there was something in the force. Something different and it had struck her as soon as she saw Luke clash blades with their father. They were at a crossroads. It was time to move on again. It was like being on Tatooine where either they stayed and got punished or left and somehow survived. The choice had been clear…

But it was different this time. The logical choice was to stay and help their father take over the empire by manipulating both sides. However, there was another side that no one considered, that Luke and Leia had lived in and battled in it for three years, the other side of things that the alliance and the empire chose to ignore.

"Luke," she muttered and in that response a unanimous decision was made between them. She abruptly turned to go to the hanger.

"Leia," Bail Organa said having come from Alderaan to join them. "Where are you going?"

"I can't do this anymore," she said continuing toward the hanger, Mara, Artoo and Threepio following closely behind her.

"What?" Bail asked following her, Winter not far behind him.

"I'm not meant to fight my battles like this," Leia said arriving in the hanger and choosing a random fighter. "Come on Artoo."

"What are you doing?" Winter asked.

"To destroy the Death Star," Leia said using the force to haul Artoo into his position.

"Are you insane?" Winter asked. "You can't go. You're an important leader of the alliance."

"So?" Leia asked and then turned to Mara. "Take that thing off Mara. Wear whatever you feel like. We're leaving after I destroy the thing. Don't wait on me to come back. Head for the _Malevolent_."

"For what?" Mara asked hating how Luke and Leia could instantly make decisions without her and leave her out the loop.

Leia didn't answer as she closed the door and started up the fighter before taking off to join the battle.

Meanwhile, Luke was giving Han and Chewie similar instructions.

"Get as many people off the Death Star as you can. Call for a mass emergency evacuation if you have to. I don't care just get them off. Then you and Chewie take the _Falcon _to the _Malevolent. _I'll meet you there after the battle," Luke said getting into his already prepared tie and heading into the battle.

Han threw down him hat in frustration. "That's it. The next time the kid offers me a job I'm declining it. Let's get a move on Chewie."

_What are you doing out here? _Luke sent when he noticed another rebel fighter coming into the battle.

_To destroy the Death Star. You weren't the only one who inherited dad's piloting skills. I just don't like doing it that much…_ Leia replied. _Watch that rebel fighter behind you._

_Already sensed it, _Luke said moving out the way and then shooting a tie coming after Leia's fighter

_So will you make the one in a million shot or should I? _Leia asked.

_The one in a million thing is right up my alley, _Luke said with a grin.

_But I've got the better aim, _Leia pointed out.

_Which means we have the same odds, _Luke said as they dove into the small trench together.

_Vader's going to kill us you know? _Leia said.

_I'm already in trouble with him for saving Obi-wan. And speak of the sith,_ Luke said turning on his radio.

"What are you doing?" Vader demanded.

"Sorry dad. I really am. But I can't live like this anymore. In trying to please you, I've lost sight of what I'm really supposed to do. I'm not meant to take over the empire… not like this," Luke said.

"This is the perfect time to have an epiphany son," Vader drone with obvious sarcasm. "So what is your destiny?" Vader asked as the presence in the rebel fighter next to Luke suddenly became clear to him. "And what's Leia doing?"

"Destroying the Death Star apparently," Leia said managing to use the force to pick up on their radio signal.

"Back to my destiny though," Luke said.

"Our destiny," Leia corrected and then said in conjunction with her brother, "It's to bring freedom and peace to the galaxy."

"And that's what we will accomplish when we take over the empire," Vader insisted.

"But we're going to do it the right way," Luke said tapping into the force trying to get a clear shot on his target.

"We're sorry Dad," Leia said as she pulled up next to Luke in the trench dodging lasers and letting Artoo help her aim. "But this isn't us. We can't live like this anymore. We love you and we're glad we found you, but we can't stay like this."

The two cut off the radio and Luke linked his mind up with Leia's after seeing the Falcon take off out of the hanger of the Death Star.

_You ready?_ he asked her closing his eyes and letting the force work through him.

_I'm locked on. Force help us now, _Leia said.

"Are we locked on Artoo?" Leia asked one more time to be sure and the unit responded in affirmative before shrilling as a laser came dangerously close to frying him.

_I'm ready now Luke, _Leia said not able to understand why Luke loved the thrill of flying so much. This was suicide! Yet there she was alongside him matching him move for move.

"One," Luke said out loud and mentally so Leia could him.

"Two," Leia said putting her thumb on the button to fire.

"Three," the both said and took the shot.

_Did we get it? _Leia asked, but Luke didn't need to respond. They both felt the warning in the force.

_Let's get out of here,_ Luke said in response to the force warning, but Leia was already way ahead of him going full throttle towards the _Malevolent_, the Death Star exploding behind them as they sped away.

_Is dad okay? _Leia asked as he looked around for his tie.

_He's fine. But he'll have to send for another star ship to come get him unless he wants to come with us, _Luke said.

_That would be fun,_ Leia said, amusement lacing her tone.

_Tsh… For you. He's seriously steamed with me, _Luke muttered dryly as the two landed in the hanger of Luke's flagship.

Officers and personal were there to meet them.

"You two fired that shot?" Han asked helping Leia out the fighter with a grin. "That thing didn't stand a chance."

Chewie growled in agreement. But Mara was standing off to the side, obviously irritated.

"That may be all good and dandy. But what the hell is going on here?" she asked though it didn't show so much because she was obviously concerned about Luke.

"Han," Luke said putting an arm around his frustrated girlfriend. "Go tell the Captain to set a course for Tatooine."

"Tatooine? The emperor gave you okay to go?" Han asked baffled.

"Who cares what the empire says?" Leia asked with a fierce determination in her eyes that hadn't been present in a while. "The people there need to be liberated and that's what we're going to do."

"The other officers are going to freak when they find out about this," Han muttered and Chewie growled in agreement.

"What they don't know won't hurt them," Luke said with a shrug as he, Mara, and Leia started for the bridge of the Star Destroyer.

"I don't believe this…" Han said and sighed.

Chewie growled a dry response.

"Well, not really. Tamed isn't the word I was looking for because those two can give Vader a run for his money in fearlessness and intimidation. But more like… mellowed out. I should have know it wouldn't last for long. Here we go again on another suicide mission. Haven't been on one of those in a while."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I can't really give you a preview without giving it away. So expect the next Arc in two weeks. I'm taking a much deserved break and hopefully I'll be at least halfway through with writing this next Arc… So until then, I really have nothing much to say.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!


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